Hospital doctors at London Independent come up with mnemonic to spell out danger of getting Sepsis

Hospital consultants are promoting public awareness of the potentially fatal sepsis condition with a mnemonic to help people spot the symptoms.

Medical staff at London Independent Hospital promoting public awareness of Sepsis. Picture: BMI - Credit: BMI

Medics have designed a display at the BMI London Independent in Stepney Green with the first letter taken from each symptom.

The mnemonic is: Slurred speech, Extreme fever or muscle pain, Passing no urine all day, Severe breathlessness, Initial feeling of death and lastly Skin mottled or discoloured.

"This condition can come quickly," the hospital's infection control manager Sabina Przybyla-Gruszczyk warns. "People should know the signs and when to seek help."

Most common sources of sepsis, which claimed the lives of boxer Muhammad Ali and Superman film star Christopher Reeve, are meningitis, skin or urinary infections, pneumonia and blood or abdominal infections.

Those most at risk are babies under one, adults over 60, patients with chronic lung, liver or heart disease, people with no spleen or anyone with weakened immune systems.