Dangerous fungus spreading in US hospitals has ‘rapidly increased'
A dangerous fungus spreading among U.S. healthcare systems isn’t slowing down, reports claim.
New research has revealed that Candida auris (C. auris) has spread rapidly in hospitals since it was first reported in 2016.
In March 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported more than 4,000 new clinical cases of C. auris, dubbing it an "urgent antimicrobial (AR) threat."
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The fungus can be resistant to multiple antifungal drugs and can cause "life-threatening illness."
C. auris "spreads easily" in healthcare facilities and mostly impacts people who are already sick, the CDC stated on its website.
A new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control on March 17 analyzed clinical cultures of C. auris across the U.S. collected from 2019 to 2023.
The number of clinical cultures increased by 580% from 2019 to 2020, by 251% in 2021, by 46% in 2022, and by 7% in 2023.
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"The volumes of clinical cultures with C. auris have rapidly increased, accompanied by an expansion in the sources of infection," concluded the researchers, primarily from the University of Miami.
JoAnna Wagner with the Georgia Department of Public Health shared with local ABC News affiliate WJCL that Georgia, one of the impacted states, has detected more than 1,300 cases as of the end of February.
"Many of the disinfectants that are EPA-registered and historically used by hospitals and medical facilities are not effective against C. Auris," Wagner said.
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone, considers C. auris an "emerging problem of great concern," he told Fox News Digital.
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"It is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and it tends to spread in hospital settings, including on equipment being used on immunocompromised and semi-immunocompromised patients, such as ventilators and catheters," he said.
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"Unfortunately, symptoms such as fever, chills and aches may be ubiquitous, and it can be mistaken for other infections."
"Major research" is ongoing to develop new treatments, according to Siegel.
"This is part of a much larger problem of emerging antibiotic resistance in the U.S. and around the world," the physician cautioned.
"At the same time, sterilization and disinfection measures in hospitals can be very helpful."
Healthcare facilities in Georgia are reportedly using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-certified cleaners designed to attack the fungus.
Although C. auris can cause severe infections with high death rates in sick individuals, it is "not a threat to healthy people," according to the CDC.
Fox News Digital reached out to the lead study author and the Georgia Department of Public Health for comment.