The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that outbreaks of a drug-resistant superbug fungus have been spreading in patients admitted in hospitals and long-term facilities in Texas and Washington DC. Health experts have said that the fungus known as Candida Auris feeds on people who have compromised immune systems. Experts have said that for the first time, the US has seen that cases are linked to person-to-person transmission. On the other side, a new report from the CDC has shown that these outbreaks in two different cities seem to be quite unrelated to each other. In both clusters, the collective 30-day mortality has been 30 percent, even though other health issues might have played a vital role. As per the data, Candida Auris is quite resistant to multiple antifungal medicines that are available in the United States. The fungus has been seen in the US in 2013 for the first time. After authorities have issued a warning about the urgent situation, Dr. Neeta Ogden, who is an internal medicine specialist, has said that the fungus is resistant to all treatments that are being used by health care providers to eliminate bacteria and fungal variants in hospitals. Health officials from the CDC have said that around 101 cases of fungal infection have been detected in Washington D. C. from January to April 2021. Among all 101 cases from Washington DC, nearly three of them have been identified as resistant to all three major classes of antifungal drugs. These three cases have been found in severely ill patients who have been admitted to long-term facilities.
Health experts from the CDC have said that during the same period, nearly 22 cases of superbug fungus have been found in Texas. Out of these 22 cases, nearly two of them have been resistant to all anti-fungal medicines. Around five cases of them have been tagged as resistant to two of the anti-fungal drugs. Those seven cases have been detected in patients who have been admitted in two acute care hospitals, one long-term and short-term, and two of the patients have been admitted in both hospitals. The lead author of the report and an expert from the CDC, Meghan Lyman has said that for the first time, the US has been witnessing this kind of clustering of resistance where people are being infected by other patients. The new report has shown that cases of Candida Auris have been reported across the world in many hospitals and long-term facilities. Health officials have said that people who have been admitted to hospitals for a long time and have been on breathing tubes, feeding tubes, or central venous catheters are at a higher risk of this fungal infection. This fungal infection can lead to wound infections or blood-related infections. At times, this infection can be severe as well, said the experts.
The new report that has been released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that surveillance, infection control measures, public health reporting are key tools to prevent the spread of fungal infection. The report has noted that there is a lack of data about how to treat those cases that are resistant to antifungal drugs. As per the latest data, two people have lost their lives due to a fungal infection at two hospitals in Dallas. Health officials have said that experts have been raising alarms about the superbug fungus after reporting some cases in 2019 that have been resistant to commonly used antifungal drugs. Health experts have said that there have been three cases that have been diagnosed in New York as well. These three cases have been identified as resistant to an anti-fungal drug that is known as echinocandins. Echinocandins are considered the last line of defense in treating such kinds of infections. Cases that have been diagnosed in the past have not been spreading person to person at that time.
