**4.3 Management**

The current guidelines for treatment are summarized in the pediatric section of the surviving sepsis campaign (**Figure 3**) [49]. Early and aggressive source control

should be a top priority; this includes drainage, debridement, and surgical intervention. Empiric antibiotic therapy should be administered within 1 hour of clinical suspicion and can be administered IV, IM or PO; antibiotics should not be delayed for blood cultures but every attempt should be made to obtain blood cultures prior to the first dose of antibiotics. Fluid resuscitation should be aggressive and administered as boluses of 20 mL/kg crystalloid given over 5–10 min via intravenous or intraosseous access. Early and aggressive fluid resuscitation has been shown to decrease mortality [21].
