A dog model of septic shock has been developed to study the pathophysiology and therapy of this common problem. 1) Effect of dose of causative organism - Identical organisms in a range of doses are being administered to dogs to assess influence of hemodynamics of the quality of organisms. 2) Identify of causative organism - Identical quantities of a variety of organisms including gram-positive and gram-negative are being administered to dogs to determine if different organisms have different effects. 3) Effect of therapy - Following infection, the effects of volume, pressors, and various antibiotics on the outcome of sepsis are being assessed. These studies are an important effort to understand how infection causes life-threatening drops in blood pressure and what therapies can be developed to treat such infections more effectively.
