The epidemiology of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome

Abstract

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome is an early stage of the infectious process in humans and animals, which has not until now been well recognized and defined. It is characterized by two or more of four well-defined criteria and may develop into sepsis, severe sepsis or septic shock. Past epidemiological investigations of sepsis and septic shock did not provide enough comparable results and the early stages of infection were therefore neglected. A precise definition of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome and the possibility of classifying all the early stages of infection represents real progress in this area. Further research on the systemic inflammatory response syndrome, on a much larger scale, is now urgently needed.