Bacterial infections and sepsis continue to be major causes of death in our region. 

Sepsis is an illness in which the body has a severe response to bacteria or other germs. Menzies is identifying predictors of death and new mechanisms underlying severe infection.

Our research focus:
  • To find new ways to treat and improve the outcome of sepsis
  • To complete analysis of the largest prospective cohort study of sepsis infections in the published literature
  • To investigate the clinical and molecular epidemiology of severe community-acquired infections in the Top End, including Acinetobacter, Staphylococcus aureus and group A Streptococcus.
     
Our research impact:
  • Leading randomised controlled trials of new strategies for the treatment of MRSA (golden staph) blood stream infection, cellulitis and severe sepsis
  • Updated management guidelines for pneumonia in Northern Australia
  • Described, for the first time, significant reductions in T cell zeta chain expression and T cell dysfunction in sepsis patients. Showed that the SMARTCOP scoring system (a clinical risk stratification score) is effective in predicting which patients are at high risk of dying, and certainly outperforms the more commonly used and complicated PSI score.