Could it be sepsis?

Say you’ve had a virus that, no matter what, you can’t seem to shake. You start to feel lousy, then really lousy.  Your heart rate becomes faster. You may experience, fever or chills, nausea and vomiting, fatigue or weakness and blotchy or discoloured skin. You may also have an impending feeling of doom, as if its all going to end.

Think sepsis. Sepsis is a medical emergency and a very serious condition where the virus or infection you have or recently had makes its way into the blood stream and damages your tissues and organs.

It is estimated that there are over 55,000 cases of sepsis in Australia with around 8,700 resulting in death. Sepsis is serious but preventable with early treatment.

It is important to seek treatment immediately at your nearest hospital emergency department if you think you have sepsis.

Your sepsis awareness could save your life.

When you subscribe to Secure My Treasures, you can store your wishes for your healthcare that are not documented elsewhere, instructions for your family if something happens to you and reminders in your chests.

Reference and further reading at

Sepsis – your questions answered with A/Prof Carolyn Hullick, Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Healthcare. More information on sepsis here (Accessed 10 April 2024)