Candida auris

A fungal superbug called Candida auris is spreading rapidly through hospitals and nursing homes in the US. The first case was identified in 2016.

[several weeks](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/c-auris-drug-resistant.html), and getting rid of it can be difficult. People who become very ill from COVID may need mechanical ventilation and long stays in the ICU, which are both [colonise](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33385336/)”, human skin. But a precise mortality rate can be hard to pin down as people who are infected are often critically ill with other conditions. And, according to a [new report](https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-3469), infections tripled between 2019 and 2021. Outbreaks can happen with this fungus, especially in intensive care units (ICU) and nursing homes where people are at a higher risk for getting fungal infections generally. Unlike many other Candida species that like to grow in our guts as part of the microbiome, Candida auris does not grow in this environment and [seems to prefer the skin](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33385336/). Once it gets into the body, it can infect organs and the blood causing a very serious and potentially fatal disease. This means that people who are colonised with Candida auris can shed lots of yeast from their skin, and this [contaminates bed clothes and surfaces](https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1008563) with the fungus. A fungal superbug called Candida auris is spreading rapidly through hospitals and nursing homes in the US. [half the country’s 50 states](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/tracking-c-auris.html). The first case was identified in 2016.

Comparing whole genome sequences can reveal where the pathogen is coming from and where it is likely going – surveillance notoriously delayed in the US, ...

It also infects ears (hence the “auris”) and wounds, and possibly also the lungs and bladder because yeast are found in sputum and urine. auris, like many pathogens, is particularly dangerous to patients in hospitals, where it enters the bloodstream and spreads, within the individual and to others. A vaccine being developed at the Lundquist Institute of UCLA so far works in mice and can be teamed with antifungals. The study focused on single-base places in the genome that can vary (single nucleotide polymorphisms, aka SNPs), from country to country, patient to patient, and even within an individual. The viral lineages on my bathroom wall are no different in concept than the evolutionary tree in my human genetics textbook that depicts Homo sapiens sapiens diverging from Neanderthals and Denisovans, which diverged from other members of Homo farther back, and australopithecines farther still. And so these data are used to deduce evolutionary trees – sometimes more than one can account for the clues in the language of genetics. The agency launched [FungiNet](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/outbreaks/wgs.html) in 2021, as “a network for molecular surveillance and genomic epidemiology for fungal diseases,” with initial focus on C. The initial clinical identification of Candida auris was in Japan in 2009, but stored cultures reveal that it goes back to at least 1996, in South Korea. Things then ramped up quickly, mostly from outside the US, and I would often peruse The [GISAID Initiative](https://gisaid.org/about-us/mission/) website for the numbers of viral genomes sequenced. [CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/index.html) and other public health organizations are deploying whole genome sequencing to track the spread of this fungus around the world. [was posted](https://www.science.org/content/article/chinese-researchers-reveal-draft-genome-virus-implicated-wuhan-pneumonia-outbreak) to the world astonishingly fast, on January 11, 2020. [Candida auris](https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/outbreaks/wgs.html) is the first multi-drug resistant fungus identified.

LISTEN: Emory University School of Medicine is looking at a new way to treat multi-drug-resistant infections. This comes as the Centers for Disease Control ...

auris is known to cause serious infections, particularly bloodstream infections, and mortality. “And this, of course, makes them more difficult to treat.” This comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues a public health warning on Candida auris. auris was only made nationally notifiable in 2018. LISTEN: Emory University School of Medicine is looking at a new way to treat multi-drug-resistant infections. Michael Woodworth, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at Emory, said the first reason is that C.

“I think we have to get this onto people's radar,” said researcher David Perlin, about Candida auris, a potentially deadly fungus. It spreads by contact ...

“As it inflames — particularly for a patient who’s sick or immune-compromised — it can then get into the bloodstream. And you see this among our sickest patients,” said Perlin, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation. People can catch it and spread it without getting sick themselves.

Fungi help make pinot and penicillin. But scientists say a new one is killing people. By Meredith Cohn. Published on: ...

auris, [the Maryland Department of Health] and the local health departments work together with Maryland health care facilities in accordance with CDC guidance to ensure that healthcare workers caring for C. Casadevall said the fungus can be tough to clean, and some facilities may not be immediately aware a patient has an infection. The global body called for more attention, resources and surveillance, as the total number of infections is likely to grow with development of more invasive forms. “The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” said Dr. “In response to cases of C. All had underlying medical conditions, and state health officials said it was difficult to determine the exact cause of death. The paper said cases may be rising because of poor infection control, but also because health authorities are testing for it more. They reported in the March edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine that cases nearly doubled from 2020 to 2021. “And the fear is, long-term, things change and this could spread outside of hospitals and become a community-acquired infection.” Arturo Casadevall, a fungal disease expert and professor of molecular microbiology and immunology in the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. They also are food (think mushrooms) and used in making food and beverages (yeast is used to make wine and beer). The number of infections in humans by Candida auris, or C.