For several reasons (good diagnostic tool for sepsis, induction not decreased by immunosuppressive therapy), procalcitonin could be a better marker for activity of sepsis in patients under corticosteroids. As this issue has not yet been examined the investigators will prospectively study the time-course of PTC and CRP in a well-defined septic patient group, that in adjunction to antibiotic therapy also received systemic corticosteroid treatment and compare it to a similar group without corticosteroid treatment.