The German Sepsis Society honours excellent research in the field of blood poisoning

JENA (Germany) 4th September 2003 (PROTEXT/ots) - Sepsis,also referred to as blood poisoning, is the major cause of deathin surgical intensive care units worldwide. In Germany, eachyear, at least 80,000 patients are affected by sepsis, themortality rate being around forty to sixty percent. Despite thefact that blood poisoning is a common disease, its diagnosisoccurs often too late and due to unspecific symptoms. Thepathogenesis of sepsis is still poorly understood.

Therefore, the German Sepsis Society promotes basic researchin the field of sepsis. Created in 2002, the Hugo SchottmüllerPrize award recompenses medical researchers for excellentpublications related to the pathogenesis of blood poisoning. TheGerman physician Hugo Schottmüller was first defining sepsis as adisease in 1914. The winner of the Schottmüller Prize receivesEUR 4.000, funded by the SIRS-Lab GmbH in Jena.

Due to the large number of high-quality publicationssubmitted this year, the jury decided to assign the prizeequally to Dr. Niels Riedemann, surgeon at the University ofMichigan, Ann Arbor and to Dr. Philipp Henneke, employed at theChildren's Hospital of Albert Ludwig University, Freiburg.

Niels Riedemann (born in 1971) received the prize for hispublication "Regulation by C5a of Neutrophil Activation duringSepsis", published in Immunity. Riedemann revealed theimmunological mechanism of sepsis induced by blind gut surgery.Philipp Henneke (born in 1966) convinced the jury with his paper"Cellular Activation, Phagocytosis, and Bactericidal ActivityAgainst Group B Streptococcus Involve Parallel MyeloidDifferentiation Factor 88- Dependent and Independent SignalingPathways", which appeared in The Journal of Immunology. Hennekeinvestigated the pathways by which bacteria (Streptococcus)cause sepsis in newborns.

ots Original Text Service: SIRS-Lab GmbH Internet:http://www.presseportal.de

For further information please contact

Roberto C. Wolfer SIRS-Lab GmbH, Jena Phone: (+) 49 3641 /508 250 Email: wolfer@sirs-lab.de Web: www.sirs-lab.de

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