Readmissions for Recurrent Sepsis: New or Relapsed Infection?*

Of the patients readmitted with sepsis within 90 days, two thirds had infection at the same site as their initial admission. Just 19% had infection confirmed to be from the same site and organism as the initial sepsis hospitalization. Half of readmissions were definitively for new infections, whereas an additional 34% were unclear since cultures were negative in one of the hospitalizations.