Candid ear‘, a dangerous and deadly fungus is spreading “alarmingly” in health centers in the United States, as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned on Tuesday in a report published in the scientific journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The CDC defines ‘candida auris’ as “an emergent fungus considered a urgent threat» due to its resistance to the main antifungal drugs and ensures that it can cause serious infections with high mortality rates, they indicate in a press release. Almost half of the patients with ‘candida auris’ died in just 90 daysthey indicate in the report.
According to the report, “it spread at an alarming rate in US health care facilities in 2020-2021” and the CDC is concerned about the tripling in 2021 of the number of resistant cases to echinocandins, the most recommended antifungal medication for the treatment of infections caused by this fungus.
Although Candida auris does not generally pose a threat to healthy people, it is dangerous to those who are sick or have the weakened immune systemwhose stay in health centers is habitual.
“The rapid increase and geographic spread of cases are concerning and emphasize the need for continued surveillance, expanded laboratory capacity, faster diagnostic testing, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” says Meghan Lyman, an epidemiologist at CDC and lead author of the article.
The data of the “alarming expansion”
The fungus was first detected in the United States in 2016 and from then until 2021 they have been reported in the country. 3,270 clinical cases in which there has been infection and 7,413 cases in which ‘candida auris’ has been detected but has not caused infection.
Infections have been increasing over the years, but the fastest increase occurred during 2020 and 2021, in the middle of a pandemic. In addition, in 2022 an increase in cases continues to be observed according to the CDC.
As indicated in the press release, during the 2019-2021 period, 17 states identified their first ‘Candida auris’ infection. The number of cases increased to 476 in 2019 (44% more), to 756 in 2020 (59% more) and to 1,471 in 2021 (95% more). Likewise, detections tripled from 2020 to 2021 to a total of 4,041.
The causes of this increase
According to the CDC report, one of the reasons why infections of this deadly fungus have increased would be “bad habits general infection prevention and control Health centers”.
The investigations “suggest that the spread of ‘candida auris’ may have worsened due to the pressure on health systems and public health during the pandemic of Covid-19”, indicates the organization.
However, the report also points to the increase and improvement of efforts to detect cases. As they explain, “colonization detection, a test to see if someone has the fungus in some part of the body but does not have an infection or symptoms” has increased.
CDC Calls for Improved Detection and Control
The CDC notes that these findings highlight the need for improved infection detection and control practices to prevent the spread of candida auris.
In this sense, remember that the main measures for this are hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfecting the patient care environment and their team, communicating that a patient has ‘candida auris’ when transferred and testing contacts of infected patients.