Sepsis kills myriads each year. Local hospitals are finding new ways to fight it.

Christina Hornyak’s life was on the line, but she didn’t realize it.

Weeks after she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection, Hornyak found herself struggling. She had severe fatigue, mental fog, chills, low blood pressure and a heart rate that shot up simply from walking to her mailbox.

When Hornyak lost consciousness at her primary care physician’s office, she got a frightening answer about her symptoms at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital: she had developed sepsis, a potentially fatal immune system reaction to an infection.

Sentara has spent the last five years developing and fine-tuning care guidelines for sepsis patients – efforts that have reduced mortality rates from the condition by 44 percent since 2021.

Emergency room providers started her on intravenous antibiotics and f