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Vitamin C may help prevent or even help reverse sepsis -- an infection that overwhelms blood flow and can cause organ failure researchers in Canada suggest.

Researchers at the University of Western Ontario in London and the Lawson Health Research Institute say sepsis is more likely in babies, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems, but even healthy people can die from sepsis which has a mortality rate of almost 40 percent.

"There are many facets to sepsis, but the one we have focused on for the past 10 years is the plugging of capillaries," study leader Dr. Karel Tyml says in a statement.

Tyml and colleagues -- using a technique they pioneered -- were the first to link sepsis to plugged capillaries that prevented tissue from getting oxygen and removing waste products.

The study links capillary plugging to oxidative stress and an activated blood clotting pathway. However, injected vitamin C could prevent or even reverse capillary plugging.

"Our research in mice with sepsis has found that early as well as delayed injections of vitamin C improves chances of survival significantly," Tyml says. "Vitamin C is cheap and safe. This could be especially beneficially in developing countries where sepsis is more common and expensive treatments are not affordable." 

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