Sepsis and Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases are illnesses that cause your immune system to attack your body’s healthy cells and tissues. Your immune system is made up of cells, proteins, and organs. It is your defense system from many illnesses. When it is working as it should, your immune system recognizes dangers to your body and fights bacteria, viruses, and other dangerous microorganisms. If you develop an autoimmune disease, your immune system can no longer tell the healthy cells from dangers to the body.

Autoimmune diseases are surprisingly common; there are more than 80 types. It’s estimated that more than 24 million people in the United States have some form of autoimmune disease, and the incidence is rising. Some are well known, such as rheumatoid arthritis or type 1 diabetes, while others, like scleroderma, are rare.

These diseases can affect any part of your body. This is a small example:

  • Thyroid
  • Blood vessels
  • Liver
  • Kidney
  • Uterus
  • Brain

Some diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease may affect only one part of the body, but other conditions can affect several areas. Diabetes, which increases your blood sugar (glucose), can affect your eyes, skin, kidneys, blood vessels, and more.

Autoimmune diseases do not cause sepsis. Still, people with certain types of autoimmune diseases are at higher risk of developing infections, which can cause sepsis. As well, some medications used to treat some autoimmune disorders can weaken your immune system, making it easier for you to develop an infection. This includes treatments with corticosteroids (like prednisone), chemotherapy, and immunotherapy.

Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment.

Sepsis and septic shock can result from an infection anywhere in the body, such as pneumonia, influenza, or urinary tract infections. Bacterial infections are the most common cause of sepsis. Worldwide, one-third of people who develop sepsis die. Many who survive are left with life-changing effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain and fatigue, organ dysfunction (organs don’t work properly), and/or amputations.

Some autoimmune diseases that increase your risk of infection include:

  • Diabetes (skin is fragile and slow to heal)
  • Inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (perforated bowel)
  • Myasthenia gravis (may cause paralysis, choking, etc.)
  • Psoriasis (cracked skin may become infected)
  • Rheumatoid arthritis (as a result of certain types of treatment)
  • Lupus – systemic lupus erythematosus
  • Sarcoidosis

Suggested Citation:
Sepsis Alliance. Sepsis and Autoimmune Diseases. 2023. https://www.sepsis.org/sepsisand/autoimmune-diseases/

Updated November 9, 2023.

 

More About Autoimmune Diseases

Symptoms

Each autoimmune disease has its own set of signs and symptoms, depending on the part of the body primarily affected. Therefore, if you have rheumatoid arthritis, the symptoms would include pain, redness or warmth over the joints and swelling. If you have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), your symptoms would be related to your bowel habits and pain or discomfort in your intestines. Other diseases, such as lupus, may affect one part of your body at first, and then affect other areas as the disease progresses.

Treatment

Just as each disease has its unique set of signs and symptoms, treatment is unique to each person and illness. Many medications can treat or manage a variety of autoimmune diseases. Each treatment is tailored to each patient’s needs. They depend on the severity of the disease and how well the treatment works.

The treatments for autoimmune diseases usually work towards slowing down the immune system’s response. Since the immune system is working too hard at fighting the healthy cells, the doctors want to slow down the overall response. This involves using medications such as corticosteroids or certain types of immunotherapies. However, while these treatments stop your immune system from attacking the healthy cells, they also slow down your ability to fight viruses, bacteria, and other dangerous organisms. This is why you have a higher risk of getting an infection.

Considerations

Before starting treatment for your autoimmune disease, ask your healthcare provider about how the medication may affect your immune system and any precautions you should take. You may have to avoid certain types of vaccinations while you are taking the medications. Your doctor may ask that you get up-to-date on the vaccines before you begin treatment.  You may also have to report any contact with specific illnesses or signs and symptoms of an infection.

Related Resources

Immune System
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Katie F.

Being a person with a chronic autoimmune disorder and an in-depth past of medical issues, I thought I understood what being very sick felt like. (Sepsis and Autoimmune Diseases) Eventually, after years of being diagnosed, I got used to having “off” days. I was finally at a point in my life where I felt “normal” and was even running in 5k races! It is very rare for people with autoimmune disorders to be able to have the energy or stamina to run in a race. I felt so free and was truly starting to enjoy life. What I didn’t know, ... Read Full Story

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Jackie D.

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Stacey Clegg

In January of 2016 I began to fall ill. Over the past few months, my health had deteriorated. I was admitted to accident and emergency over two different trusts and no health practitioner could identify with my symptoms: dizzy, lower back pain, weakness in my thighs. It was suggested I was to be referred to spinal as the physiotherapy consultant suggested I may have cauda equina, a serious condition and should it left, can result in a wheel chair. I had weeks of appointments, both in my GP surgery and in different hospital trusts and was discharged with medications. Fast ... Read Full Story

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Karin Solis

In 2010 I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, antiphospholipid syndrome and Raynaud’s syndrome. (Sepsis and Autoimmune Disorders) More ailments started to surface over the years. I started having routine seizures, skin lesions often testing positive for staph, complications from antibiotics, caustic or abrasive allergies, enlarged lymph nodes, chronic migraines and most recently complex migraines which mimic strokes. I was on weekly chemotherapy and biweekly biological injections known as immunosuppressants for 8 years. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System) I caught a cold in December 2016 and within a blink of an eye my temperature raised above 104. I was taken to ... Read Full Story

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Carolyn Handrock

I am a 47-year-old single Mom with a 10-year-old son. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2010, and had been doing pretty well despite the pain and joint swelling. (Sepsis and Autoimmune Diseases) My doctor had put me on a biologic, but I had to stop taking it after I got a bone infection and had to have part of my right foot amputated. (Sepsis and Impaired Immune System, Sepsis and Amputations) Despite this, I was still able to walk pretty well and was taking medicine that did an ok job controlling my pain. A couple of years after ... Read Full Story

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Other Topics

Diabetes

People who have diabetes are at risk of developing wounds and sores that don’t heal well and are vulnerable to infection.

Impaired Immune System

Your immune system recognizes dangers and fights bacteria, viruses and other dangerous microbes to keep you healthy.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are two bowel diseases that are classified as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a disease that affects your brain and nervous system. Patients are at risk of developing infections.

Sepsis Alliance Connect

A virtual support community designed for the millions of people affected by sepsis.

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Autoimmune Diseases

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