PATHOGENESIS OF SEPTICEMIA

This review concentrates on two aspects of the pathogenesis of septicaemia. Firstly, those factors that enable bacteria to resist or avoid host defence mechanisms, including opsonization, phagocytosis, intracellular killing and terminal complement lysis of bacterial cell walls, are described. Secondly, the complication of septicaemia by septic shock with reference to the role played by lipopolysaccharide and tumour necrosis factor is reviewed, as are the possible implications for therapy. © 1990 The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.