Deadly drug-resistant fungus spreading in US

US healthcare facilities nationwide are experiencing a multidrug-resistant and potentially deadly fungus that has been spreading with increasing speed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases of the fungus, called Candida auris, tripled over just three years, and more than half of the states have now reported it, according to researchers at the CDC who wrote in a paper published on Monday by Annals of Internal Medicine.

The fungus is usually not harmful to healthy people but can pose a deadly risk to unhealthy hospital and nursing home patients. It spreads easily and can infect wounds, ears and the bloodstream. Some strains are so-called superbugs that are resistant to all three classes of antibiotic drugs used to treat fungal infections.

The fungus was first reported in the US in 2016. The study analyzed changes in Candida auris in the US from 2019 to 2021. The study also indicated the cases of infection, death and drug resistance were increasing.

The CDC study reported 3,270 clinical cases through the end of 2021, with cases rising from 476 in 2019 to 1,471 in 2021. Overall, the clinical cases increased by 44 percent in 2019 and 95 percent in 2021.

Cases of colonization screening, which means that people who were found to carry the fungus to potentially infect others but not sick with it, totaled 7,413. The screening of cases tripled from 2020 to 2021.

The CDC has deemed Candida auris as an urgent antibiotic resistance threat because it is often resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, spreads easily in healthcare facilities, and can cause severe infections with high death rates.

The study found that in 2021, the fungus' resistance to Echinocandin, a class of antifungal drug, was about three times higher compared with the previous two years.

The fungus was found primarily in New York and Chicago at first. However, by the end of 2021, 17 states had identified their first Candida auris case, the study said.

"The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases are concerning and emphasize the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control," said CDC epidemiologist Meghan Lyman, lead author of the paper.

The study found that most Candida auris transmissions occurred in healthcare facilities providing long-term care to very sick patients. People who are very sick, have invasive medical devices, or have long or frequent stays in healthcare facilities are at increased risk.

Agencies contributed to this story.