Fighting the Silent Killer

BBC presenter Becky Green lost one of her twins to sepsis in 2018. It is a condition that, according to the World Health Organization, is implicated in one in five deaths worldwide. Sepsis can begin as a simple infection and escalate within hours, overwhelming the body and causing organ failure. It is a race against time that too often goes unrecognised until it is too late. But around the world, that is starting to change.

Becky speaks to Dr. Tex Kissoon and explores how our understanding and treatment of sepsis are changing. In Malawi and Uganda, she meets the team behind the APT Sepsis programme. In Madrid, Dr Rosa Mendez explains how a hospital-wide "sepsis code" - mirroring fast-track protocols for heart attacks and strokes - has brought sepsis mortality down from 24% to 17%.

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