Biomarker based cellular analysis to predict stages of infection and sepsis

Sepsis kills 30 000 people in the UK and costs the NHS £400 million per year. It is little known outside the medical profession but is the third most common cause of death in hospitalised patients outside of heart disease and cancer. It happens when an infection in the bloodstream tips the immune system out of balance and this system starts to attack the body rather than protect it. Many infections can potentially trigger sepsis but rapid treatment with the right antibiotic can often prevent it turning into serious sepsis. Even better would be to predict which patients are at greatest risk and act to protect them in advance. The Technology Strategy Board is supporting a group of teaching hospitals (Edinburgh, St Thomas’s & Newcastle) in their work with BD (a US Heathcare Company with a base in Oxford) to find a way to develop future tests which can help doctors understand which of their patients are in danger from sepsis. This will save lives and reduce the huge cost of sepsis to the NHS.