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Book

Bacteremia

David A. Smith  1 , Sara M. Nehring  2
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
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Free Books & Documents
Book

Bacteremia

David A. Smith et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Bacteremia, in the strictest sense, refers to viable bacteria in the blood. Asymptomatic bacteremia can occur in normal daily activities such as conducting oral hygiene and after minor medical procedures. In a healthy person, these clinically benign infections are transient and cause no further sequelae. However, when immune response mechanisms fail or become overwhelmed, bacteremia becomes a bloodstream infection that can evolve into many clinical spectrums and is differentiated as septicemia. Untreated and clinically significant bacteremia progresses to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, septic shock, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: David Smith declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Sara Nehring declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

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