An urgent warning has been issued by the American College of Physicians (ACAP) regarding an antibiotic resistant deadly fungus which has been described as "particularly concerning". Cases of Candida auris, known as C auris have rapidly increased in recent months, sparking fears of another killer disease.
In 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described the fungus as an "urgent threat" but statistics show that numbers have rapidly grown over the last four years. New figures from the CDC revealed case numbers have more than tripled across the United States between 2020 and 2021 with antibiotic-resistant strains becoming more frequent.
The fatal fungus is thought to have a death-rate of 60 per cent in the people it infects, the Mirror reports. A person becomes infected following direct contact with a contaminated object and can spread it to other humans through physical touch.
Strict handwashing is advised to limit the spreading with the Antifungal drug echinocandin being the first line of therapy given to treat C auris. The latest study looked at the number of confirmed and probable cases which were reported to state and local health facilities between 2016 and 2021.
According to CDC, in 2021 fungal infections caused 7,000 deaths in the US with 1.5 million fatalities worldwide. Some experts have suggested this is down to the changing climate which is an ideal temperature for the fungus to rapidly grow and spread.
Researchers found infections had risen from 1,310 in 2020 to 4,041 in 2021 while clinical cases of C auris increased to 2,377 with 5,754 screening results last year.
According to the Daily Mail, authors of the CDC study said the findings "highlight the need for improved detection and infection control practices to prevent spread of C auris". They also added that the spread of the fungus could potentially have been "exacerbated by pandemic-related strain on the health care and public health systems".
It was reported in America in 2016 that C auris was given the highest level of concern by the CDC due to its frequent resistance to many drugs, the ease of the spread in healthcare settings and the high mortality rate. The main symptoms of the deadly fungus are fever and chills which do not improve.
The disease can cause different kinds of infection and it is thought that the number of C auris cases may even be underestimated in the study as screening for the fungus is not uniformly conducted across the country. New York City and Chicago were reported to be the worst affected but cases of the fungus have now occurred in more than half of US states.
In most cases, the spread has been inside long-term care hospitals and nursing homes. Oregon, Minnesota and Michigan all reported their first case of the fatal fungus in 2021. Meanwhile, areas with previous cases but limited spread including California, Texas and Florida, had new and increasing transmission.
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