Health authorities advise that all essential cancer care should continue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jaime Puebla / The National
Health authorities advise that all essential cancer care should continue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jaime Puebla / The National
Health authorities advise that all essential cancer care should continue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jaime Puebla / The National
Health authorities advise that all essential cancer care should continue during the Covid-19 pandemic. Jaime Puebla / The National

Sepsis kills one in five worldwide a year, report shows


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More people die from sepsis – or blood poisoning – than cancer each year, a new report has revealed.

Known as the “hidden killer” due to it being so difficult to detect, about 11 million people die of sepsis a year – representing one in five deaths worldwide.

Researchers at the University of Washington said the figures were double the estimates from 2016, which were based on data from seven wealthy countries including the US, Sweden and New Zealand.

A new report, published in the Lancet, factored in data from 195 nations, including poor and middle-income countries.

The overwhelming majority of cases - 85 per cent - occurred in low and middle-income countries, with children most at risk.

Sepsis is caused when a body fights an infection too aggressively and the immune system begins attacking other parts of the body too.

It eventually leads to organ failure and survivors can be left with disability and long-term damage.

It is most commonly triggered by bacterial and viral infections in the lungs, abdomen and urinary tract.

Common signs of sepsis include fever, increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, and confusion.

But because it can develop in response to many different types of infection, symptoms vary – making it difficult to detect.

As a result, sepsis is frequently underdiagnosed at an early stage when it is still potentially reversible.

Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.

Last month, a two-year-old boy is believed to have died from sepsis in Al Ain after two hospitals allegedly refused to treat him before being paid.

The boy’s father, Alaa Rawajbi, reported the two hospitals to Abu Dhabi's medical regulator claiming doctors' negligence led to Kareem’s death.

Kareem Al Rawajbi, 2, died from severe sepsis that stopped the muscles in his heart from working. Courtesy Alaa Rawajbi
Kareem Al Rawajbi, 2, died from severe sepsis that stopped the muscles in his heart from working. Courtesy Alaa Rawajbi

His son fell ill in October with what he believed was seasonal flu but it was later diagnosed as sepsis.

"My son was vomiting and very tired," Mr Rawajbi, from Jordan, told The National at the time.

“He ... could not move his body. His face turned yellow and he was completely rejecting food.”

Kareem died about a week later from heart failure. Abu Dhabi's health authority has since confirmed it has investigated the boy's death but have not yet released their report.

In 2018, a three-year-old Emirati girl in Sharjah nearly died after her throat infection developed into sepsis.

The child, Reem, was taken to University Hospital Sharjah suffering from a high temperature and breathing difficulties.

She was treated with antibiotics and admitted to the paediatric ICU. But within 30 minutes her oxygen saturation and blood pressure both began to drop and she developed blue skin – an indicator of sepsis.

Doctors were able to support her through mechanical ventilation and she went on to recover.

“If we hadn’t thought about [sepsis], we could have missed it," said Dr Naguib Reheim, consultant paediatrician and paediatric diabetologist.

"But Alhamdulillah, with this girl we started early and aggressively. We suspected it. We treated it so the result was marvellous.”

In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.

 

There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.

 

More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.

 

The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.

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Three ways to limit your social media use

Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.

1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.

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Age: 33

Favourite quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill

Favourite breed of dog: All of them. I can’t possibly pick a favourite.

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Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

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