Empiric Antimicrobial Therapy in Critically Ill Septic Patients

Abstract

Sepsis is a medical emergency and life-threatening condition due to a dysregulated host response to infection, which is time-dependent and associated with unacceptably high mortality. At the bedside of a patient with sepsis or septic shock, clinician must make immediate life-saving decisions including empirical initiation of broad-spectrum antimicrobials; the most likely to be appropriate. The empiric regimen should be initiated within the first hour of diagnosis and determined by assessing patient and epidemiological risk factors, likely source of infection based on presenting signs and symptoms, and severity of illness. Optimizing antibiotic use is crucial to ensure successful outcomes and to reduce adverse antibiotic effects, as well as preventing drug resistance. All likely pathogens involved should be considered to provide an appropriate antibiotic coverage. Herein, we tried to make suggestions of empirical therapeutic regimens in sepsis/septic shock according to most likely pathogens in cause and sepsis source based on the recent recommendations of learned societies. Some suggestions were adapted to an environment of low-resource regions where the ecology of multi drug resistant organisms is of concern.