When a person is injured or has a bacterial infection, the body will respond in various ways. You want to make sure that any type of infection or bodily injury is well checked so the risk of going toxic or septic doesn't happen. Even a small cut or seemingly innocent wound can quickly go septic under the worst circumstances, leading to the need for IV fluids, heavy antibiotics, and a wound vac system to help clean out the nasty infection that lies within.

How can the medical community best determine if a person has gone septic? Luckily, there are ways that a person can be diagnosed and then treated, whether they visit an emergency room or they are visiting their doctor for a concern.

Blood testing

The blood is usually drawn to help see if a patient has a very serious bacterial infection or if the body is actively fighting off serious bacteria or being stressed from injury. One of the things tested for in blood drawing is this: procalcitonin. This is a substance the body naturally produces, especially when in response to a bacterial infection or attack or when the body is suffering from pain or another medical issue.

If there is a lot of procalcitonin found in the blood levels, further testing will be done to determine how septic the body is. In general, the higher the levels of this bodily response, the more septic a patient may be.

Physical examination

The patient's body temperature and total physical presence will be taken into account to determine if the body has gone toxic. A patient will often have a fever or complain of fatigue, nausea, or other bodily pain and discomfort if they are septic. A urinalysis may also be done to check the functions of the kidneys and to see if blood or excess protein deposits are present in urine to help rule out toxic issues.

Patients usually should be given IV fluids to help hydrate them while the testing is ongoing. Even if a patient is showing no obvious signs of sepsis or their procalcitonin levels are not immediately concerning, the patient should not be released until they have been given ample testing to ensure they are healthy enough to return back to home. A followup appointment is recommended to ensure a patient is remaining healthy and recovering normally. When a patient has sepsis, they should be admitted until they have made remarkable improvements.