Entertainment – The death of Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, boxing legend, will be laid to rest Friday. Ali died last week at age 74. Although Ali had been battling Parkinson’s disease for over three decades, his official cause of death was “septic shock due to unspecified natural causes,” according to family spokesman Bob Gunnell. Dr. Michael S. Okun, national medical director of the National Parkinson Foundation, said, “A direct link from Parkinson’s to sepsis is a long jump. However, there are several features of Parkinson’s — especially later in the course of the illness — that can place a patient at higher risk for [developing]an infection, which can get into the bloodstream and cause them to become septic.” While the origin of Ali’s infection has not been revealed, the CDC says any infection can lead to sepsis, even if it starts out as only a minor one.