Climate change is already causing visible and nuanced impacts on the spread of infectious diseases around the country and in California and San Francisco, and more is likely to come, according to UCSF infectious disease experts.
The U.S. and local hospitals are seeking to promote greater awareness about sepsis and better combat what is an immune response to infection that can result in chills, rapid breathing, confusion and sometimes death.
Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), which includes conditions such as pneumonia, has long been the leading cause of death from communicable agents and a leading cause of death in children worldwide.
Sepsis, the overreaction of the immune system in response to an infection, causes an estimated 20% of deaths globally and as many as 20 to 50% of U.S. hospital deaths each year.