For many decades this term has been used simply to describe illness caused by the products of the growth of micro-organisms in the body and by material released from body cells in response. The general symptoms which accompany it are those of INFLAMMATION. Sepsis, as described in this way, is prevented by the various procedures mentioned under ASEPSIS, and is treated locally with ANTISEPTICS and systemically with ANTIBIOTICS. However, in 2016, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and the Society of Critical Care Medicine redefined sepsis as ‘life threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection’. This will probably replace the term SEPTICAEMIA for this phenomenon.