Table 3.
Definitions of sepsis and shock (consensus meeting of the American Thoracic Society and the American Society of Critical Care Medicine)12
| Infection is an inflammatory response to the presence of micro-organisms or the invasion of normally sterile host tissue by those organisms |
| Bacteraemia is the presence of viable bacteria in the blood |
| Septicaemia is a clinical term whose use is now discouraged |
| Sepsis is the systemic response to infection, manifested by two or more of the following conditions as a result of infection |
| Temperature >38°C or <36°C |
| Heart rate >90 beats min−1 |
| Ventilatory frequency >20 bpm or a requirement for artificial ventilation |
| White blood cell count >12 000 mm−3 or <4000 mm−3 |
| Severe sepsis is sepsis associated with organ dysfunction, hypoperfusion, or hypotension |
| Septic shock is sepsis-induced hypotension (systolic arterial pressure <90 mm Hg) or a requirement for vasoconstrictors, despite adequate fluid resuscitation |
| Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome is the presence of altered organ function such that homeostasis cannot be maintained without intervention |