Giving Compass' Take:

• According to a new study, twice as many people as previously believed are dying of sepsis worldwide, and a disproportionately high number of the deaths are children in poor areas.

• How can philanthropy best support scientific breakthroughs for deadly diseases? 

• Sepsis kills around 258,000 people each year in the United States, here's an article on what can be done. 

The study reveals 48.9 million global cases of sepsis in 2017 and 11 million deaths, or 1 in 5 deaths worldwide.

Sepsis occurs when a person’s organs cease to function properly as the result of an out-of-control immune response to infection. Even when sepsis doesn’t kill its victims, it can create lifelong disabilities in survivors, researchers say.

SEPSIS IN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES
The large majority of sepsis cases—85% in 2017—occurred in low- or middle-income countries. The study found the highest burden in sub-Saharan Africa, the South Pacific islands near Australia, and South, East, and Southeast Asia. Females had a higher incidence of sepsis incidence than males. By age, the incidence of sepsis peaks in early childhood, with more than 40% of all cases occurring in children younger than five.

“I’ve worked in rural Uganda, and sepsis is what we saw every single day. Watching a baby die of a disease that could have been prevented with basic public health measures really sticks with you,” says lead author Kristina E. Rudd, assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh’s critical care medicine department.

“I want to contribute to solving this tragedy, so I participate in research on sepsis. However, how can we know if we’re making progress if we don’t even know the size of the problem? If you look at any top 10 list of deaths globally, sepsis is not listed because it hasn’t been counted.”

Read the full article about sepsis deaths by Allison Hydzik at Futurity.