Symptoms of blood infection in the early stages

The harm of blood infection is relatively large. Generally, it is caused by bacteremia, which means that bacteria enter the blood. At this time, patients often experience chills, fever and other serious symptoms. Patients often have high fever, shortness of breath, intestinal paralysis, etc., and more serious cases can cause sepsis.

1. Central nervous system and psychiatric symptoms: Mania and excitement are common in patients with Staphylococcus aureus or Escherichia coli sepsis, while depression and depression are common in patients with Pseudomonas aeruginosa sepsis, but they are all suppressed in the late stages. Disorientation may occur in gram-positive sepsis. Sepsis leads to lesions in the cerebral arteries, and after bacterial infection, widespread inflammatory arteritis occurs, accompanied by local meningoencephalitis, subarachnoid hemorrhage, embolism, and subcortical encephalitis. Tremors in the limbs and associated inflexibility or stiffness of movements are often late symptoms. 2. Changes in body temperature: intermittent or prolonged fever, high fever above 39°C. Gram-positive bacterial sepsis is mostly intermittent or prolonged fever. Enterobacter infection presents as remittent or prolonged fever. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection presents as low fever or below normal body temperature.

treat

Transient bacteremia associated with surgery or indwelling intravenous or urinary catheters is often undetectable and generally does not require treatment. However, if patients have valvular heart disease, intravascular prostheses, or are receiving immunosuppressants, prophylactic antibiotics should be used to prevent endocarditis.

The prognosis of more serious bacteremia depends on two determining factors: first, it depends on the rapid and thorough identification of the source of infection; second, it depends on the original disease and its accompanying functional disorders. Traumatic implants, especially intravenous and urinary catheters, should be removed promptly.

Antibiotic therapy should be started empirically immediately after obtaining laboratory specimens such as Gram stain and culture. Some cases (eg, ruptured viscera, myometritis with abscesses, intestinal or gallbladder gangrene) require surgery; large abscesses must be incised and drained, and necrotic tissue removed.

Patients with persistent bacteremia due to pulmonary, biliary, or urinary tract infection are usually successfully treated with antibiotics if there is no obstruction or abscess formation. If multiple organ failure develops, multiple bacteria are often found (polyspecies bacteremia), which has a poor prognosis. The mortality rate increases significantly when antibiotic treatment or surgical treatment is delayed.