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Definition of "septicemia" []

  • A systemic disease caused by pathogenic organisms or their toxins in the bloodstream. Also called blood poisoning. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "septicemia" in a sentence
  • "And in the next couple of days, they could develop what's called septicemia, which is a blood-borne infection which can kill very quickly."
  • "Once septicemia is advanced, antibiotic therapy may prove useless, probably because the exotoxins remain, despite the death of the bacteria."
  • "The disease eventually results in septicemia (blood poisoning), and the mortality is high."