Mechanisms of Tissue Injury in Sepsis: Contrasts between Gram Positive and Gram Negative Infection

Sepsis is the systemic response to infection, and is caused by Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria in approximately equal numbers. In recent years it has become increasingly clear that there are significant differences between sepsis caused by Gram positive and Gram negative infections, both in the microbial components that initiate the injury, and the host responses that follow it. These differences will assume greater importance in developing targeted therapeutic interventions to severe sepsis.