A deadly fungus that causes a difficult-to-treat infection is spreading in the United States at an “alarming” rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned.
“The rapid increase and geographic spread of cases is worrying and underscores the need for continuous surveillance,” said epidemiologist Dr. Meghan Lyman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a statement Monday.
The emerging fungus Candida auris, considered an “urgent antimicrobial resistance threat,” has spread at an “alarming” rate between 2020 and 2021, according to the American organization.
In fact, screenings for this fungal infection are said to have tripled between 2020 and 2021, increasing from 1,471 to 4,041 cases, according to the report.
“The CDC continued to record an increase in cases in 2022,” the statement said.
Equally worrying, the number of cases of these fungi, which are resistant to antifungal drugs commonly used to treat them, also tripled in 2021.
While the fungus is generally not a threat to healthy people, patients who stay in healthcare facilities for long periods of time or use invasive medical devices are at greater risk of infection.
As such, the CDC considered the fungus “a threat […] urgent”, given his tendency to “[résister] to several antifungals, [propager] easily in health care facilities and cause severe infections with high mortality rate”.