Why do some people get sepsis while others don't? Scientists point to the gut

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. In 2015, Audrey Wiggins was a healthy 31-year-old when she thought she’d come down with the flu. Instead, her condition spiraled into a severe case of sepsis that left her in the ICU for 10 days, including five days in a medically induced coma. Potentially deadly sepsis may be more likely in certain patients due to problems in the gut. Researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology's Infectious Disease Research Center used female mouse models to investigate why sepsis outcomes can vary so dramatically. The study, published in the journal Nature, looked at genetically similar mice with different gut microbiomes. The mice were infected with Acinetobacter baumannii — a highly resilient bacterium that can lead to sepsis. ER DOCTOR REVEALS HOW PNEUMONIA CAN SUDDENLY TURN DEADLY AFTER KYLE BUSCH'S DEATH The researchers compar