The clinical features of sepsis are varied and often relate to the precipitating infective or non-infective cause.

In classic sepsis the patient will be warm, flushed and vasodilated with signs of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome.

Presentation can, however, be insidious and non-specific, especially in the elderly or those with multiple co-morbidities. This group of patients may present with cool peripheries, low cardiac output and established organ failure.