This undated photo, made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows strains of Candida auris cultured in petri dishes.
Sean Lockhart/AP
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Sean Lockhart/AP
This undated photo, made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows strains of Candida auris cultured in petri dishes.
Sean Lockhart/AP
The fungus Candida auris is becoming a more dangerous public health threat as the number of drug-resistant cases surges in 2021. said on monday.
The fungus is resistant to some antifungal drugs, but the CDC says it is not considered a threat to healthy people. Still, the country’s public health agency calls C. auris an urgent threat because it is resistant to drugs. It can cause serious illness and death in people who are already sick, use invasive medical devices, or have long or frequent stays in medical facilities.
About 30% to 60% of infected people die from the yeast, although “based on information from a limited number of patients.” said the CDC.
CDC epidemiologist Megan Lyman, Ph.D., said, “The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is a concern, requiring continued surveillance, expanded laboratory capacity, rapid diagnostic testing, and proven infection. It emphasizes the need for compliance with prevention and control.
Candida auris has been reported in over 30 countries and was first detected in the United States in 2016. Between then and December 2021, he had 3,270 patient-infected clinical cases and 7,413 screened cases in the United States. The fungus was present in the patient but was not causing an infection, the CDC said.
It can spread from person to person or from interaction with contaminated surfaces.
Lack of prevention, poor management practices in medical facilities, and better efforts to detect cases may have led to a very rapid increase in the number of cases, according to the CDC.
Yeast is identified by testing bodily fluids, but the CDC warns that it is more difficult to distinguish from other yeasts, can be misdiagnosed, and is difficult to contain.
