Actress Patty Duke lost her life on Tuesday to America’s invisible killer.
Unlike breast cancer, it has no iconic ribbon. President Obama has not made it a priority like he has done with Alzheimer’s disease. It has no high-profile fundraising efforts like those against colon cancer, stroke, or diabetes.
Yet it kills far more people than any of those conditions.
Sepsis takes 258,000 American lives a year. That’s more than breast cancer (41,150), Alzheimer’s (84,767), colon cancer (49,190), stroke (130,000), or diabetes (75,578). 1
Many people don’t even know what sepsis is. In simple terms, it is dirty blood. It is caused by an infection that spins out of control. Immune chemicals spill into the blood, triggering widespread inflammation. This leads to blood clots and leaky blood vessels. Organs quickly fail. Death is rapid.
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Up to 223 million Americans already have this insidious bug living inside of them. Men, women, children, seniors. Most have no idea. And they certainly don’t know that some experts are now saying that this common, but little-known, bug is a leading cause of cancer. A recent review in Critical Reviews in Microbiology confirms that it “is capable of promoting cancer by several mechanisms.”
Go HERE to find out if you’re harboring this secret cancer bomb.
Sepsis is an efficient killer. About 70% of people who get it die.2 It is responsible for about half of all hospital deaths.3
Duke, the star of The Patty Duke Show, died at age 69 from the condition. She had “really, really suffered” with her illness, her son Sean Astin stated. 4
Sepsis: Stopping the Under-the-Radar Killer
Preventing sepsis starts with stopping the infections that cause it. That means keeping your immune system strong. And you likely know the basics of how to do that. It’s doing all the things we know lead to good health.
You should exercise regularly… Eat a diet high in organic fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats… Stay away from processed foods… And get 7-9 hours of sleep a night.
And there’s one other thing you should do. If you go into the hospital, you need to do all you can to avoid a hospital-acquired infection. As many as a quarter of sepsis deaths come from infections patients get after they check into the hospital.5
The best defense? Meticulous handwashing. Both for you and the people treating you.
When your doctors and nurses step into your room, before they touch you, ask if they’ve washed their hands. They should not be offended.6 It could save your life.
In Good Health,
Angela Salerno
Publisher, INH Health Watch
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References:
1http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/alzheimers.htm
2http://www.aafp.org/afp/2013/0701/p44.html
3http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ATS/45862
4http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/03/29/actress-patty-duke-dead/
5http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2015/09/17/sepsis-the-little-discussed-national-crisis
6http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/eight-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-superbugs/