State of being sterile, as every poor sucker at first is (7)
I believe the answer is:
asepsis
'state' is the definition.
(asepsis is a kind of state)
'as every poor sucker at first is' is the wordplay.
'at first' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'every poor sucker' is 'eps'.
'as'+'eps'+'is'='ASEPSIS'
'of being sterile' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for asepsis that I've seen before include "Absence of viruses and other microorganisms" , "germ-free state" , "exclusion of micro-organisms" , "Given freedom from infection" , "freedom from germs" .)