Septicemia
What is septicemia?
Septicemia is the clinical name for blood poisoning. Septicemia that progresses to septic shock has a death rate as high as 50 percent, depending on the type of organism involved. Septicemia is a medical emergency and requires urgent medical treatment.
Relation to meningitis:
Some bacteria that cause meningitis can also cause septicemia, particularly the meningococcal form. When meningococcus invades the body, it enters from the throat, gets into the bloodstream, and travels through the blood to the meninges.
- In some cases, the bacteria multiply uncontrollably in the bloodstream, which results in septicemia, before the bacteria can infect the meninges.
- In other cases, infection in the bloodstream and in the meninges develops at the same time, and these patients develop both septicemia and meningitis.
- In a minority of cases, the body can stop the bacteria multiplying in the bloodstream, but not in the meninges, and these patients develop meningitis.