Everything You Need To Know About Candida Auris
Candida auris is the name of a fungus from the candida family. It has become notorious in the scientific community because it is resistant to common fungicides.
The outbreak of the fungus almost always occurs in hospitals or nursing homes. In addition, they can be very serious and can even cause blood poisoning. That is, the spread of infection to the patient’s blood.
Scientists first identified this organism in 2009. In fact, when it was in a sample from a patient’s ear canal, they called it an native of South Korea. Subsequently, alarms were sounded following cases of outbreaks in hospitals in 2016 and 2017.
The most serious outbreaks occurred in intensive care units. This led to extreme measures to control the infection. However, they realized that this fungus is extremely resistant.
Researchers assumed that by living in hospitals, they became resistant to medication. Samples from hospital floors, furniture from clinics and even computers have tested positive for Candida auris.
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Case of Candida auris in the world
After confirming the first case of Candida auris in 2009, the researchers realized that previously unidentified infections were likely due to this pathogen. In particular, a case from 2008, also in South Korea, may have been candida auris.
From there, researchers categorized cases in India, South Africa, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States. These last two countries along with Spain and Colombia registered it in 2016. In fact, there were various outbreaks that year.
There are two significant hospitalizations. The first took place at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London in 2015. The second was at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, Spain in 2016. Each outbreak affected a significant number of admissions.
Risk factors for Candida auris
Not everyone who comes in contact with Candida auris will get the infection. In addition, not everyone will experience severe symptoms. In addition, there are people who carry the fungus in their body and never develop symptoms. This is called colonization. Although not serious for the wearers, they can give it to other people.
The most important risk factor for infection is hospitalization. In addition, you may need a catheter. Other risk factors are:
- To be quarantined in a nursing home
- Lots of antifungal drugs
- Many hospital visits
Drug resistance
A surprising property is its ability to resist fungicides. In fact, this worries specialists in infectious diseases. Outbreaks in hospitals are causing concern because we do not know how difficult it will be to get rid of the fungus.
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Almost all Candida varieties are sensitive to fluconazole. For example, it is common to treat Candida albicans with this drug. However, Candida auris is resistant to it.
It is resistant to other fungicides, such as amphotericin B and voriconazole. According to scientific studies, approx. 90% of the registered Candida auris strains are resistant to a class of antifungal drugs. In addition, a third of them are resistant to more than two different drugs.
Treatment
So far, there is a special group of drugs that can help kill Candida auris. These drugs are echinocandins.
However, these are not always available. Some strains are also resistant to these. If this happens, doctors use a mixture of fungicides in higher doses than usual.
These patients also had a prior illness that required hospitalization. Therefore, their immune system was weak. In fact, some had several diseases at the same time. Doctors need to figure out how to treat each problem.
This critical situation with Candida auris reminds us to be careful when taking medication. Both patients and physicians should follow the prescription guidelines to avoid becoming resistant to medications.
