Pyaemia (or pyemia) is a type of

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

that leads to widespread

abscess An abscess is a collection of pus that has built up within the tissue of the body. Signs and symptoms of abscesses include redness, pain, warmth, and swelling. The swelling may feel fluid-filled when pressed. The area of redness often extends ...

es of a

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

nature. It is usually caused by the

staphylococcus ''Staphylococcus'' is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae from the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical ( cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. ''Staphylococcus'' species are faculta ...

bacteria by pus-forming organisms in the blood. Apart from the distinctive abscesses, pyaemia exhibits the same symptoms as other forms of septicaemia. It was almost universally fatal before the introduction of

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and preventio ...

. Sir

William Osler Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, (; July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a Canadian physician and one of the "Big Four" founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of phys ...

included a three-page discussion of pyaemia in his textbook ''

The Principles and Practice of Medicine ''The Principles and Practice of Medicine: Designed for the Use of Practitioners and Students of Medicine'' is a medical textbook by Sir William Osler. It was first published in 1892 by D. Appleton & Company, while Osler was professor of Medic ...

'', published in 1892. He defined pyaemia as follows: Earlier still,

Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

– who later died of the disease – included a section titled "Childbed fever is a variety of pyaemia" in his treatise, ''The Etiology of Childbed Fever'' (1861).

Jane Grey Swisshelm Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm (December 6, 1815 – July 22, 1884) was an American Radical Republican journalist, publisher, abolitionist, and women's rights advocate. She was one of America's first female journalists hired by Horace Greeley at ...

, in her autobiography titled ''Half a Century'', describes the treatment of pyaemia in 1862 during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

Types

*''arterial p.'' Pyaemia resulting from dissemination of

emboli An embolism is the lodging of an embolus, a blockage-causing piece of material, inside a blood vessel. The embolus may be a blood clot (thrombus), a fat globule ( fat embolism), a bubble of air or other gas ( gas embolism), amniotic fluid ( amn ...

from a

thrombus A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of ...

in cardiac vessels. *''cryptogenic p.'' Pyaemia of an origin that is hidden in the deeper tissues. *''metastatic p.'' Multiple abscesses resulting from infected pyaemic thrombi. *''portal p.'' Suppurative inflammation of the

portal vein The portal vein or hepatic portal vein (HPV) is a blood vessel that carries blood from the gastrointestinal tract, gallbladder, pancreas and spleen to the liver. This blood contains nutrients and toxins extracted from digested contents. Approx ...

Symptoms

The disease is characterized by intermittent high temperature with recurrent chills; metastatic processes in various parts of the body, especially in the lungs; septic pneumonia;

empyema An empyema () is a collection or gathering of pus within a naturally existing anatomical cavity. For example, pleural empyema is empyema of the pleural cavity. It must be differentiated from an abscess, which is a collection of pus in a newly fo ...

. It may be fatal. Clinical sign and symptoms can be differ according to system it involves.

Diagnosis

features of systemic inflammatory response syndrome

tachycardia Tachycardia, also called tachyarrhythmia, is a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate. In general, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is accepted as tachycardia in adults. Heart rates above the resting rate may be normal ( ...

>90beats/min tachypnea >24/min temperature >38 or <36

Treatment

Antibiotics are effective. Prophylactic treatment consists in prevention of suppuration.

Cultural references

, the original proponent of hand-washing in the practice of medicine, was widely scorned for his belief and was committed to an insane asylum where he died at age 47 of pyaemia, after being beaten by the guards, only 14 days after he was committed. * The

nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Iva ...

character Bazarov in

Ivan Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (; rus, links=no, Ива́н Серге́евич Турге́невIn Turgenev's day, his name was written ., p=ɪˈvan sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ tʊrˈɡʲenʲɪf; 9 November 1818 – 3 September 1883 (Old Style dat ...

's '' Fathers and Sons'' dies of pyaemia. *

Miller Huggins Miller James Huggins (March 27, 1878 – September 25, 1929) was an American professional baseball player and manager. Huggins played second base for the Cincinnati Reds (1904–1909) and St. Louis Cardinals (1910–1916). He managed th ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

, died of pyaemia while managing the team during the 1929 season. * Blind Boy Fuller died at his home in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County and Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 Census, Durham is the 4th- ...

on February 13, 1941, at 5 p.m. of pyemia due to an infected bladder, gastrointestinal tract and perineum, plus kidney failure. * Casper, a wounded soldier in "Nostalgia," by Dennis McFarland, is dying of pyemia after his lower arm is amputated.

References

External links

{{Medical resources , DiseasesDB = , ICD10 = , ICD9 = {{ICD9, 038.42 , ICDO = , OMIM = , MedlinePlus = , eMedicineSubj = , eMedicineTopic = , MeshID = , SNOMED CT = 42939002 Bacterial diseases