Record kept aboard ship -- one's showing presence of deadly bacteria (6)
I believe the answer is:
sepsis
'presence of deadly bacteria' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both states of affairs as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'record kept aboard ship one's' is the wordplay.
'record' becomes 'ep'.
'kept aboard' indicates putting letters inside (I've seen this in other clues).
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'one's' becomes 'is' (Roman numeral).
'ep' going within 'ss' is 'seps'.
'seps'+'is'='SEPSIS'
'showing' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for sepsis that I've seen before include "Presence of harmful bacteria (in a wound)" , "Blood poisoning" , "Putrefaction in tissue" , "corruption" , "rotting" .)