“Real Housewives of Orange County” star Vicki Gunvalson, 62, is sharing her recent health scare after she was hospitalized with sepsis, a potentially deadly disease that results from the body’s response to an infection.
“This entire health scare came unannounced — with no warning,” Gunvalson told Fox News Digital.
As Sepsis Awareness Month kicks off this September, Gunvalson’s timely story is helping to raise awareness of the illness.
“Sepsis awareness can and does save lives, yet only 65% of American adults have ever heard of it,” Selena A. Gilles, clinical professor and associate dean at New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, told Fox News Digital.
Gilles is on the advisory board of the Sepsis Alliance, a California-based organization that works across the country to decrease suffering from sepsis.
“Prompt recognition and treatment can be of great importance in preventing significant illness and even mortality,” Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital on Long Island, New York, told Fox News Digital.
Common symptoms of sepsis include fever, chills, rapid heart rate, confusion, shortness of breath, extreme pain, and clammy or sweaty skin, according to Gilles.
A high fever – especially in those who are at increased risk of infection and are feeling extremely unwell – should warrant seeking medical attention as soon as possible, Glatt added.
“Fatigue and lethargy in the setting of infection can be a sign of pneumonia and potential sepsis, even without overt pulmonary symptoms,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News’ senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News Digital.
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