Cases of deadly drug-resistant fungal infections are on the rise, CDC says

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Monday that cases of Candida auris, or C. auris, a life-threatening, drug-resistant fungal infection, are increasing in US healthcare settings. .us

New data from the CDC published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that the number of infections has increased since it was first detected in the US in 2013. However, the rate has increased rapidly in recent years.

There were 756 reported cases in 2020 and 1,471 reported cases in 2021, an increase of 95%. According to preliminary data from the CDC, from January to December 2022, the US reported 2,377 cases and 5,754 cases of detection.

C. auris infections often do not cause symptoms among healthy people, but they can lead to serious complications among people with weakened immune systems, especially those who are hospitalized or in nursing homes. Complications can affect the blood, heart, brain, eyes, bones and other parts of the body, according to the CDC.

About a third of patients who have “invasive” infections die. Given the difficulty in treating the condition, C. auris is considered one of the worst fungal threats facing public health officials, according to World Health Organization classification.

Meanwhile, experts say that methods for diagnosing C. auris infections, as well as methods for preventing its spread among patients, have improved dramatically.