BLOOD POISON

A frontline hospitalist and teaching physician chronicles one of humanity’s most complex maladies in Shahinpoor’s medical history book.

After “confronting its cryptic presence in hospital wards” as a medical student, Shahinpoor spent nearly 20 years as a doctor working in sepsis care. Despite frequent association with blood poisoning, sepsis can emerge from nearly any infection. It’s “the body’s response [that causes] sepsis, not the microbes or their toxins seething throughout the blood.” While sepsis was first named in the 8th century B.C.E., we’re only in the beginning stages of learning how to treat it. As recently as 1987, sepsis killed around half of those afflicted. Further complicating matters, no single test can diagnose sepsis, as it “is not one entity but many.” To put this disease into perspective, Shahinpoor walks readers through thousands of years of medical history, from ancient Egypt and Greece to 19th-century Europe and the contemporary medical establishment. Along the way, readers learn about the science behind sepsis, the effect of Covid-19 on sepsis rates and care, and the major medical milestones of germ theory, sanitation, antibiotics, and vaccines. These often dense topics are grounded by patient stories, which illuminate the real-world effects of sepsis with heartbreaking clarity. While the narrative can get into the weeds of microbiology, emergency room treatment protocols, and medical trials, its overall flow is brisk and balanced. Shahinpoor’s writing is effective in combining accessibility with scientific rigor. The book’s deeply researched science and its detailed case studies will no doubt interest doctors and nurses encountering sepsis at the bedside, while the book’s plain-language prose simplifies complex topics for curious lay readers. (“While a heart attack is brought on by the occlusion of a single medium-sized coronary artery, sepsis involves the calamitous dysfunction of the entire blood circulation—both macroscopic and microscopic.”)

An engaging, informative history that will intrigue lay readers and medical professionals alike.