The number of cases of infection with the dangerous fungus Candida auris has skyrocketed in US hospitals in 2021. Cases of this fungus, which is resistant to drugs and can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems, have already been detected in more than half of the states.
In 2019, their number was 44%, and in 2021 it is already 95% more than a year earlier. Such data are presented in a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), published in the specialized journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
The fungus Candida auris was first described in 2009 when it was found in a patient at a hospital in Tokyo. In the United States, the first clinical case of infection, according to the CDC, was registered in 2013. Since 2016, the active spread of the fungus in American hospitals and the growth of clinical cases has begun. In 2020, there were 757 clinical cases and 1310 patients with Candida auris in the body. In 2021, there are already 1474 clinical cases and 4040 carriers. In 2022, according to preliminary data from the CDC, there were 2,377 clinical cases and 5,754 carriers. The fungus enters the bloodstream, affects the central nervous system and internal organs, including the kidneys, liver, spleen. May cause death if injected into the brain or heart. The main symptoms after infection are fever, body pain, fatigue. Candida auris does not respond to antibiotic treatment and hardly responds to antifungal treatment.
In 2019, the CDC listed this fungus as one of the most dangerous pathogens resistant to existing drugs. In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) also listed Candida auris as one of the 25 most dangerous pathogenic fungi for human health, including it in the group of four most dangerous pathogens along with Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans.