Candida auris is a fairly new, highly fatal, drug resistant fungus that has caused many deaths across the world. It was first isolated in 2009 from discharge from the ear canal of a patient in Japan. Since then it has been linked to outbreaks in India, South Korea, South Africa, and many countries in South America.

C. auris causes severe wound and bloodstream infections in patients that are already ill and in the hospital. The biggest problem is that yeasts like this have never behaved this way before in that it is very hard to detect and treat. The CDC sent a warning to the United States in June saying to be on the look out for this fungus. Just this week there have been reports of seven infected patients in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Illinois. Of those seven people, 4 have died. The weird thing is that none of these patients are related or have any indication in their pasts that would count for the infections. The source of this fungus isn’t the person that is sick, it seems to be coming from the hospital environment, like catheters, counters, and other surfaces.

So where did this fungus come from to begin with? This is still unclear. Genetic testing has shown that each country has a different form of the fungus. They are similar in each country, but different than in other countries. The cases in the U.S. are more closely related to the cases in South Africa and South Asia. This is causing alarm for the CDC because none of the patients that are infected in the U.S. had been outside of the country recently. The CDC is speculating that someone carrying the yeast in their gut brought it into the U.S. unknowingly.

This fungus isn’t being cured easily because antifungal drugs are in short supply. Drug manufacturers don’t have a high demand for antifungal drugs. There are only three classes of antifungal drugs, compared to antibiotics which have more than a dozen. C. auris is showing resistance to all three classes of antifungal drugs.

Should you be concerned about this deadly fungus? All of the cases that have been reported have been people already in the hospital for serious medical conditions. They already are being given a lot of medication which can weaken their immune system and make them more susceptible. They also have many hospital workers touching them and handling equipment which is also spreading the fungus.

References:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/11/deadly-fungus-drug-resistance-candida-auris-health-science/

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6544e1.htm