Thanks, Walt.  That is a term I've not seen or read about.  Nanny

Not exactly Joan.  It refers to an infection that is systemic.  That is, an
infection that has spread from the original site to other sites in the body,
usually through the blood stream.  A septic infection is almost always life
threatening.

Walt

sepsis [Gr. putrefaction]   A systemic inflammatory reponse to infection
in which there is fever or hypothermia, tachycardia, tachypnea, and
evidence of inadequate blood flow to internal organs.  The syndrome
is a common cause of death in critically ill patients.  Roughly 40% of
patients with sepsis die; between 200,000 and 400,000 deaths cue
to sepsis occur annually in the U.S.   Pathogenic organisms, including
bacteria, mycobacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses, may initiate the
cascade of inflammatory reactions that constitute sepsis.  The number
of patients with sepsis has increased significantly in the last 25 years
as a result of several factors, including:  the aging of the population,
living with immune suppressing illnesses, the increased number of
patients living with multiple diseases, and the increased use of
invasive or indwelling devices in health care, which serve as portals
of entry for infection.

That is just one column of a 3-page entry under that title in Mary's
medical dictionary.

... This place is so dumb, the town hooker is a girl who crochets.