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This 2006 colorized scanning electron micrograph image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a strain of the Escherichia coli bacteria. E. coli is one of the germs that can cause sepsis. Once misleadingly called blood poisoning or a bloodstream infection, sepsis occurs when the body goes into overdrive while fighting an infection, sort of friendly fire that injures its own tissue. The cascade of inflammation and other damage leads to shock, amputations, organ failure or death. (Janice Carr/CDC via AP)

This 2006 colorized scanning electron micrograph image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a strain of the Escherichia coli bacteria. E. coli is one of the germs that can cause sepsis. Once misleadingly called blood poisoning or a bloodstream infection, sepsis occurs when the body goes into overdrive while fighting an infection, sort of friendly fire that injures its own tissue. The cascade of inflammation and other damage leads to shock, amputations, organ failure or death. (Janice Carr/CDC via AP)

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