For a few weeks now, the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) has been warning of the threat posed by the increase in infections by the fungus White ears. It is not a new pathogen, but in recent times has seen its incidence increase in a very notable way in the North American country and in many others, driven in part by the covid-19 pandemic.
What is C. auris?
As we pointed out, C. ear es a very contagious kind of fungus, which is transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces or infected people. For most people it does not represent any significant danger; however, in immunosuppressed patients or with open lesions (such as catheters, lines, etc.) it can trigger an infection that reaches the brain, blood or lungs with a very high lethality.
For this very reason, the health care centers they often act as especially important contagion nodes for this pathogen. Contributing to all this is the fact that the species has developed a certain resistance to some of the common disinfectants, and since it can stay on the skin of people without causing symptoms, it has a great capacity to travel and spread to other individuals.
The World Health Organization had already been warning about all this since the end of last year, when it published a list of ‘priority fungal pathogens’ that included C. ear. Precisely, the entity referred to the resistance to certain treatments that several pathogenic species of fungi are currently developing.
An infection similar to other yeast infections
C. ear belongs to the same taxonomic genus as the species we associate with the most common forms of yeast infection. Like these, it grows in the form of yeast (colonies of microscopic fungi).
Las candidiasis son fungal infections that affect the surfaces of the body, normally in the ‘wet’ areas known as mucous membranes (vagina, penis, mouth…). When they spread to the rest of the body and become systemic, they are called candidemia and that is when they become potentially fatal.
These cases only usually occur in people with a compromised immune system, such as those with HIVundergoing transplants or undergoing certain cancer treatments.