What is candida auris, the killer fungus that infected a man in Milano- time.news

2023-05-26 16:36:05

Of Christine Brown

The highly infectious pathogen was isolated for the first time in 2009 and the diagnosis is complex because the symptoms are very generic. Mortality varies from 30% to 70%

The
White ears
the killer mushroom that infected and killed a man hospitalized in the Sacco hospital in Milan for a stroke, a highly contagious pathogen and it can kill frail, elderly and newborn patients within three months. According to a report by the Annals of Internal Medicine
cases almost doubled (+95%) between 2019 and 2021 and among the cases surveyed, those resistant to available drugs tripled. In October 2022 theWorld Health Organization has included Candida auris in the list of pathogenic fungi with high priority because it represents a serious threat to public health because of his resistence to very many antifungal drugs.

Isolated for the first time in 2009

The fungus was isolated for the first time in 2009 in Japan from a sample from a woman’s ear (hence the name auris, ear in Latin). The earliest specimen known to date, however, dates from 1996 and was retrospectively identified in a collection of Korean specimens. The first European outbreaks occurred in spring 2015 in France. In Italy, in 2019 the first case was identified of invasive infection, followed by an outbreak that affected the Northern regions (in particular the hospitals in Liguria) in the 2020-2021 pandemic period.

High mortality

The pathogen has a mortality ranging from 30% to 70%: if adequate therapy is not adopted, capable of causing serious infections especially in pluripathological subjects, because it is resistant to at least one of the three classes of antifungals available, le echinocandins.

Highly contagious pathogen

The fungus is also very contagious: it is transmitted through contact with an infected person but also through the contaminated surfaces. And it is difficult to eradicate because, as written, it is resistant to common antiseptics. But how does candida auris resist drugs? The cause must be sought in its way of reproducing itself: by recombining itself, it generates new variants. If the strains that merge have developed resistance to two different drugs, the resulting variant will be able to resist the two drugs, and so on.

Complex diagnosis and generic symptoms

Candida auris is not easy to identify because infections are diagnosed by culture of blood or other body fluids. However, in tests it can be confused with other species of Candida and specialized laboratories are needed to confirm the diagnosis. THE symptoms they are also very generic because often those affected are patients with many other diseases. LThe infection can remain silent for a very long time and become invasive only in a moment of lowering of the immune defenses of the infected patient. Among the most frequent symptoms, as reported by theHigher Institute of Health there are cases of ear infections, wound infections, blood infections, and infections affecting the abdominal organs. .

The role of global warming

The increase in cases of fungal infections would be one of the consequences of global warming on our health: the increase in temperatures would favor the right conditions for the fungus to adapt to humans. Further proof of climate change is the fact that Candida auris’ ability to infect humans emerged simultaneously on three continents, America, Africa and Asia, in distinct strains.

May 26, 2023 (change May 26, 2023 | 4:35 pm)

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