A drug-resistant and potentially deadly fungus has been spreading rapidly through U.S. health care facilities, according to a new government study.
Candida auris, a type of yeast called C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems. The number of people diagnosed with infections as well as the number of people found through screening to be carrying C. auris has increased at an alarming rate since it was first reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In an interview, the study's lead author, Dr. Meghan Lyman, Chief Medical Officer in the CDC's Mycotic Diseases Branch said that the increases in the last few years are really concerning to us. We have seen increases not only in areas of ongoing transmission but also in new areas. The CDC's new warning, which was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, comes as Mississippi is fighting a growing outbreak of the fungus. According to the state health department, at least 12 people have been infected with C. auris with four potentially associated deaths since November. A long-term care facility is located at the center of the Mississippi outbreak, although a small number of cases have been reported at other facilities in the state.
The fungus can be found on the skin and throughout the body, according to the CDC. It's not a threat to healthy people, but about one-third of people who are sick with C. auris die.
The CDC report analyzed state and local health departments data on people sickened by the fungus from 2016 to December 31, 2021, as well as those who were not ill, but were carrying it on their bodies with the potential to transmit it to others who might be more vulnerable to it.
From 2019 to 2020 the number of infections went up by 59%, to 756, and then by an additional 95% to 1,471, in 2021.
The researchers also found that the incidence of people not infected with the fungus but colonized by it increased by 21% in 2020 and by 209% in 2021, with an increase to 4,041 in 2021 compared to 1,310 in 2020.
The data shows that C. auris has been detected in more than half of the U.S. states.