{"id":761957,"date":"2026-06-26T07:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/761957\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:05:11","slug":"doctors-warn-about-the-risks-of-sepsis-following-death-of-popular-nascar-driver-kiro-7-news-seattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/761957\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors warn about the risks of sepsis following death of popular NASCAR driver \u2013 KIRO 7 News Seattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR driver and two-time champion Kyle Busch<\/a> died on May 21 at age 41. His death was attributed to sepsis following pneumonia. <\/p>\n

Dr. Nicole Saint Clair, Executive Medical Director of Regence BlueShield, expressed surprise at the sudden passing of an auto sports athlete at a young age, but said it could happen to anyone. <\/p>\n

Sepsis, a condition that typically develops after an active infection, is the body\u2019s overreaction to an infection that has grown severe. In Busch\u2019s case, the severe infection was pneumonia, which then led to sepsis. Dr. Saint Clair noted that despite modern medical advancements, identifying and treating infections early is crucial in order to prevent sepsis.<\/p>\n

Dr. Saint Clair said she\u2019s encountered various medical conditions, but she questioned how such an event could lead to a racing champion\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

\u201cI immediately really wanted to understand more, like, how did something like this happen?\u201d Dr. Saint Clair said. She explained that sepsis triggers a dramatic bodily reaction,<\/p>\n

\u201cIt causes your body to have such a dramatic reaction that oftentimes it is the reaction that makes you even sicker,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

This severe reaction can lead to changes in blood pressure. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou start to have leakiness in your blood vessels, and that makes your blood pressure really low, which makes your heart have to work harder. Your blood\u2019s not circulating well, and that can sometimes lead to stroke or other injury to other organs,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Dr. Saint Clair added that while medical professionals are \u201cso fortunate in the modern day and in our advanced society that we oftentimes can identify and treat infections early,\u201d it remains a very serious condition. <\/p>\n

Some medical experts use the acronym TIME to help identify sepsis. The University of Michigan Medicine department breaks down the acronym: <\/p>\n

\u2018T\u2019 stands for temperature, indicating it is either too high or too low. <\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019 signifies an infection. <\/p>\n

\u2018M\u2019 refers to mental decline, which can manifest as confusion, low energy, or difficulty staying awake. <\/p>\n

\u2018E\u2019 represents being extremely ill, showing severe symptoms beyond what is considered normal. <\/p>\n

Common treatments for sepsis involve antibiotics, measures to stabilize blood pressure, and targeted treatments for organs that have been impacted. Even with these interventions, Dr. Clair stated, \u201cwe can treat it, but sometimes people still die.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR driver and two-time champion Kyle Busch died on May 21 at age 41. His death was attributed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,57580,82],"class_list":["post-761957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-nashville-superspeedway","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}