Sepsis

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Mortality can approach 50% in some critically ill populations, and landmark evidence shows that survival falls measurably with every hour of delay in effective antimicrobial therapy after hypotension develops.

Conventional blood culture, while indispensable for confirming viable organisms and enabling phenotypic susceptibility testing, takes 24–72 hours and may be negative after antibiotics. Rapid molecular testing directly from whole blood can identify common sepsis pathogens and key resistance markers within hours, complementing — not replacing — culture.