In news- Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have warned about an emerging fungus Candida auris in the US, adding that it poses a “serious global health threat“.
What is Candida auris?
- Candida auris (C. auris) is a yeast, a family of fungus which contains species pretty helpful to humans in activities such as bread-making and beer-brewing, but which also features species that cause infections in humans.
- First reported in 2016, cases and transmission rate of Candida auris, also termed C. auris, have only risen in recent years, with a dramatic increase in 2021.
- The fungus is considered an urgent antimicrobial resistance (AR) threat, spreading at an alarming rate in US healthcare facilities in 2020-2021.
- Transmission of this fungus is mainly through contaminated surfaces in hospitals. It sticks to intravenous lines and blood pressure cuffs. It’s really hard to clean of.
Why is it a concern?
- The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that fungal pathogens are a major threat to public health as they are becoming increasingly common and resistant to treatment with only four classes of antifungal medicines currently available, and few candidates in the clinical pipeline.
- Most fungal pathogens lack rapid and sensitive diagnostics and those that exist are not widely available or affordable globally.
- It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. Some strains are resistant to all three available classes of antifungals.
- It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods and can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management.
- It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a hospitalised patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread.
- WHO released the first-ever list of health-threatening fungi report in October 2022.
Is it similar to candida infection, a common yeast infection?
While common candidiasis causes white discharge, which is easily treatable with antifungals, C. auris presents a completely different picture. It’s symptoms may not be noticeable because patients with C. auris infection are often those who are already sick and are in the hospital with another serious illness.
Symptoms-
- Symptoms of C. auris infection depend on the part of the body affected.
- It can cause many different types of infections, such as bloodstream infection, wound infection, and ear infection.
- Special preventive measures are taken by doctors to prevent its spread in case a patient having this infection is undergoing any surgery.
Source: The Indian Express
