Risks
Asplenia is a form of immunodeficiency, increasing the risk of sepsis from polysaccharide encapsulated bacteria, and can result in overwhelming post splenectomy infection (OPSI), often fatal within a few hours. In particular, patients are at risk from Pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, and meningococcus. The risk is elevated as much as 350–fold.
The risk to asplenic patients has been expressed as equivalent to a child dying in a home accident, or equivalent to an adult dying in a road traffic accident (reference UK Splenectomy Trust Advice)—hence sensible precautions are advisable.
Read more about this topic: Asplenia
Famous quotes containing the word risks:
“There are risks which are not acceptable: the destruction of humanity is one of them.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“The amount of it is, if a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If the children and youth of a nation are afforded opportunity to develop their capacities to the fullest, if they are given the knowledge to understand the world and the wisdom to change it, then the prospects for the future are bright. In contrast, a society which neglects its children, however well it may function in other respects, risks eventual disorganization and demise.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)