A drug-resistant fungus is on the rise in American hospitals, targeting patients who already reeling from illness.
New cases have been identified in Georgia and Florida hospitals, according to The Hill.
Candida auris has been in the U.S. since 2016, but cases have increased annually through 2023, the most recent year for which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have data.
“We’ve had four people at one time on and off, over the past few months, and in years past, it was unusual to have one or even two people with Candida Auris in our hospital,” Dr. Timothy Connelly at Memorial Health in Savannah said, according to WJCL-TV.
JoAnna Wagner from the Georgia Department of Public Health said Georgia has had more than 1,300 cases through February.
The fungus spreads through medical equipment that enters the body, such as breathing tubes, feeding tubes, or catheters.
The kicker? Traditional cleaning solutions or disinfectants do not touch the fungus.
“Many of the disinfectants that are EPA-registered and historically used by hospitals and medical facilities are not effective against C. Auris,” Wagner said.
The CDC called Candida auris “an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” in 2023, The Hill noted, and it is sounding the alarm again
“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,” Dr. Meghan Lyman, an epidemiologist with the CDC, said, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own,” Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, said, according to Nexstar
Nolan said the fungus adapts to endure.
“It’s really good at just being, generally speaking, in the environment,” Nolan said.
“So if you have it on a patient’s bed for example, on the railing, and you go to wipe everything down, if in whatever way maybe a couple of pathogens didn’t get cleared, then they’re becoming resistant. And so over time, they can kind of grow and populate in that hospital environment,” she said.
Because the fungus hits those in health care settings, its targets are those who are already sick.
The CDC has estimated that “based on information from a limited number of patients, 30–60% of people with C. auris infections have died. However, many of these people had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death,” The Hill reported.
“Most of the patients that get infections with Candida auris are themselves pretty sick to start with,” Stuart Cohen, chief of infectious diseases at UC Davis, said, according to the LA Times. “This is something that can push people over the edge and become life-threatening.”
Cohen said hospitals need to take steps to limit infections.
“The goal is, first and foremost, to keep the people in your hospital safe,” Cohen said. “When somebody comes in for a procedure, they’re not expecting to go home with a life-threatening illness or having spent time in an ICU from a hospital infection.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
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