The major findings from our study are that severe staphylococcal sepsis causes significant mortality despite appropriate antibiotic therapy; diabetes is a common preexisting condition; most patients are managed outside the ICU even if they receive vasoactive/inotropic agents and mechanical ventilation; and while clinical factors apparent on presentation including coagulopathy and respiratory failure predict death, plasma IL-8 significantly improves this prediction. Here, CXCL8 is linked to respiratory failure.