MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ, Aug 16, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX)
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Severe sepsis afflicts more than 1 million people in the United States (U.S.), 1.5 million people in the European Union (E.U.), and an estimated 18 million people worldwide each year, killing one in every three patients despite the best medical treatment. In the U.S., more die from severe sepsis than from either heart attacks, strokes or any single form of cancer. Severe sepsis is typically triggered by bacterial infections like pneumonia, or viral infections like influenza. However, it is the body's abnormal immune response to the trigger that leads to severe inflammation and the unregulated, massive production of cytokines, often called "cytokine storm," that then causes multi-organ failure and often death....
