Sepsis Hysteria: Facts Versus Fiction

In October 2019, Professor Mervyn Singer and colleagues wrote a letter to The Lancet alleging that the claims around the incidence of sepsis were overstated and that highlighting the importance of early intervention has increased antibiotic consumption.

Senior members of the Global Sepsis Alliance prepared a considered response to these allegations which the Lancet declined to publish, with the result that the response has been released in Intensive Care Medicine this week.

We continue to advocate, supported by robust evidence, for sepsis to be established as a global health priority, and maintain that incentivization towards better sepsis care is entirely compatible with the preservation of antibiotics as evidenced by the UK’s own data. Today, thousands more people worldwide will develop sepsis. This is not hype, this is a tragedy.