Are the COVID-19 and Sepsis Syndromes one and the same?

The global burden of Sepsis continues to challenge clinicians in its definition, diagnosis and treatment. The current Covid-19 pandemic seems to have almost taken our understanding of the Sepsis Syndrome back decades. What are the similarities between the current pandemic and sepsis? And what can we learn? We have never avoided healthy controversy and in this episode Simon Finfer puts the case that the multi-organ dysfunction and cytokine storm seen in critically ill Covid19 infected patients is analogous to the conventional Sepsis Syndrome and ARDS. Perhaps if we consider the current pandemic through a Sepsis lens, we can avoid making the same mistakes that we have made in Sepsis research for decades resulting in no licenced treatments for the Sepsis Syndrome. Derek Angus agrees but makes the case that there are two distinct differences. Firstly that the endothelial dysfunction appears different in Covid-19 and secondly unlike sepsis in the case of Covid-19 the pathogen itself proceeds unabated by any currently proven treatment. This means we need a two pronged approach in Covid19 research: 1: Strategies purely aimed at combating the virus 2: Strategies aimed at applying Sepsis lessons to the pandemic response. codachange.org/codazero