- Actress Tanya Roberts, 65, passed away on Monday, January 4.
- The Charlie’s Angels and That ’70s Show star’s death came after she collapsed on Christmas Eve.
- Her official cause of death was revealed to be a urinary tract infection that developed into sepsis, according to NBC News.
Actress Tanya Roberts, 65, passed away on Monday, January 4. The Charlie’s Angels and That ’70s Show star’s death came after she collapsed on Christmas Eve, and made headlines when her publicist prematurely announced that she had passed away on Sunday, January 3.
Her official cause of death was revealed to be a urinary tract infection that developed into sepsis, according to NBC News. Tanya’s longtime partner and spokesperson announced that the sepsis had spread to her kidneys and gall bladder.
A UTI is a bacterial infection that can form in your urethra, bladder, or kidneys, causing unpleasant symptoms like frequent urination, a burning sensation while you pee, pelvic pain, and more. And according to the National Kidney Foundation, one in five women will get a UTI in her lifetime. And unfortunately, once you get one, it makes you more prone to have them again in the future, with 20 to 30 percent of women having repeat infections.
Unfortunately, a UTI can lead to sepsis, a life-threatening condition in which the body actually injures its own tissues and organs. More than 1.5 million people get sepsis each year in the U.S. and at least 250,000 Americans die from sepsis annually, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
When sepsis happens, “the body responds aggressively and can cause damage to the brain, kidneys, and lungs,” Dr. Christopher Seymour, a sepsis specialist and an associate professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, told NBC News. “As the immune system responds, it can trigger a cascade of proteins that affect blood vessels and tissues.”
Sepsis can be extremely difficult to diagnose. “The long and short of it is that no single sign or symptom says septic, like chest pain can indicate a heart attack,” said Seymour. “That’s why we often see people who present late and can succumb to an otherwise treatable infection.”
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