Hospitalizations after severe blood infections may be preventable

When people survive life-threatening blood infections, it's common for them to land back in the hospital within a few months. But a new study suggests that could often be avoided. The research, published in the March 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, focused on older Americans who were hospitalized for a severe blood infection, also known as sepsis. Sepsis arises from a powerful immune reaction to an infection, such as pneumonia or urinary tract infection: Chemicals released to fight the bacteria or virus begin to trigger inflammatory responses throughout the body -- potentially causing blood clots, leaky blood vessels and multiple organ failure.