Pediatric sepsis

Sepsis in childhood is still a challenging diagnosis. Although the mortality of sepsis is much lower in children compared to adults, it remains one of the main causes of death in childhood. Increasing intensification of therapy in the field of neonatology and pediatric intensive care, the high proportion of patients with severe chronic pre-existing diseases in pediatric intensive care as well as the constantly growing number of children with inborn, acquired or therapy-induced incompetence of the immune system keeps the incidence of pediatric sepsis at a high level. In addition, there are an increasing number of cases of sepsis induced by highly resistant pathogens. One of the hallmarks of treatment success in pediatric sepsis is the early recognition of critically ill patients and the immediate initiation of effective treatment in order to significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality. To achieve these goals also in primary care settings, much effort is required in future years.