Septicemia

Symptoms:

• fever (sudden onset, often spiking)
• chills
• toxic looking (looks acutely ill)
• changes in mental state
  • irritable
  • lethargic
  • anxious
  • agitated
  • unresponsive
  • comatose

• shock
  • cold
  • clammy
  • pale
  • cyanotic (blue)
  • unresponsive

• skin signs associated with clotting abnormalities
  • petechiae
  • ecchymosis (often large, flat, purplish lesions that do not blanch when pressed)
  • gangrene (early changes in the extremities suggesting decreased or absent blood flow)

• decreased or no urine output

Signs and tests:

Physical examination may show:

• low blood pressure (hypotension)
• low body temperature (hypothermia)
• signs of associated disease (meningitis, epiglottitis, pneumonia, cellulitis, or others)

Tests that confirm infection include:

• blood culture
• urine culture
• CSF culture
• culture of any suspect cutaneous lesion
• CBC
• platelet count
• clotting studies
  • PT
  • PTT
  • fibrinogen levels

• blood gasses