Editorial Open Access Clinical Microbiology: Open Access

Sepsis is the most frequent cause of death at non-coronary intensive care units (ICUs), a serious disease with high mortality and immense financial burden on the health care system. In the past two decades, the incidence of sepsis was on the rise not only in developing countries but also in the USA and countries of Western Europe [1]. In developed countries, the incidence of sepsis is 2 % of all hospitalisations and 6 to 30 % of ICU patients. Even more dramatic is the situation in developing countries [2]. The problem is high mortality of severe sepsis, which is higher than that of myocardial infarction at the moment. Even worse data are revealed in the analysis of septic shock patients [3]. Even though mortality is gradually decreasing, it remains very high at present, about 50%. Unfavourable data have been confirmed by the recent European Sepsis Occurrence in Acutely Ill Patients (SOAP) study, with a 35 % incidence of sepsis in patients at ICUs and mortality of 27 % [4]. In the past 10 years, certain progress was made in early identification of sepsis patients and their treatment. Nevertheless, due to the ever growing incidence of sepsis, the number of patients who die of sepsis increases. The study by Martin et al. from 2009 analysed more than 11,000 patients with severe sepsis from the international register [5]. In this study, 57 % of patients suffered from Gram-negative, 44% from Gram-positive, and 11 % from mycotic infections. The lungs were the primary source of infection in 47 % of patients, abdominal infection was found in 23%, and urinary tract infection in 8%. The total mortality reached almost 50%. The Surviving Sepsis Campaign is a collaboration betwee