SepsisNet Science Day 2026

On 5 November 2026, more than 80 researchers, clinicians and partners came together at the Winkel van Sinkel in Utrecht for the annual SepsisNet Science Day. Four themes were central: recognition, subtypes and targeted therapy, antimicrobial and haemodynamic resuscitation, and post-sepsis care. Below is a selection of the highlights, with sources.

Recognition outside the hospital

Feike Loots showed that many patients with sepsis are in contact with primary care before admission, and that unrecognised infection is associated with higher mortality Loots, BMJ Open 2018. During out-of-hours home visits, GPs counted the respiratory rate in 25% of patients; estimation missed many elevated respiratory rates Loots, BJGP Open 2022. A simple sepsis score for general practice is now being tested in a stepped-wedge study in six regions.

Subtypes and targeted therapy

Olaf Cremer, Joost Wiersinga and Matthijs Kox discussed the shift from a single disease entity to biologically defined subtypes. Despite hundreds of immunomodulation trials, the guideline still contains no targeted host-directed therapy Slim, Crit Care 2024. New consensus frameworks describe transcriptomic and immunological subtypes across large cohorts Scicluna, Nat Med 2025 Moore, Nat Med 2025. In ImmunoSep, more than half of the screened patients could not be classified using ferritin and HLA-DR ImmunoSep, JAMA 2025. Examples of biomarker-guided enrichment are ASTONISH with sTREM-1 François, Lancet Respir Med 2023 and an IFN-γ-driven endotype Giamarellos-Bourboulis, EBioMedicine 2024.

Antimicrobials and haemodynamics

Geert Groeneveld discussed the role of oral antibiotics and pharmacokinetics in severe infections. Jan Bakker and Sanne ter Horst put 25 years of resuscitation trials into perspective Hernandez, Crit Care 2026. ARISE FLUIDS showed no difference between early vasopressors and more liberal fluids, but less pulmonary oedema with less fluid ARISE FLUIDS, NEJM 2026. Resuscitation guided by capillary refill time was further supported in ANDROMEDA-SHOCK-2 ANDROMEDA-SHOCK-2, JAMA 2025. In Groningen, the FLUIDS trial is investigating individualised fluid administration in the emergency department ter Horst, PLoS One 2025.

After sepsis

Lonneke van Vught and Wouter van der Heijden showed the scale of long-term consequences: many survivors receive a new diagnosis or become care-dependent Fleischmann-Struzek, JAMA Netw Open 2021, cardiovascular risk is increased Jentzer, J Am Heart Assoc 2023 and readmissions are often infection-related Prescott, JAMA 2015. A definition of post-sepsis syndrome helps to organise follow-up care in a targeted way van der Slikke, Infect Drug Resist 2023.

Speed round

Early-career researchers presented ongoing work, including long-term sepsis outcomes in Acutelines and MARS, a prediction model for blood culture results, point-of-care HLA-DR measurement and diagnostic discordance in the emergency department. These results have not yet been published.

Thank you to all speakers and participants. The date of the next Science Day has not yet been set; sign up for the newsletter so you do not miss the announcement. Do you do sepsis research yourself? Add your profile to the research network.