Many of you have heard about the fungus Candida. It’s everywhere in nature. It’s a yeast. Some of you, perhaps on antibiotics (especially women) or people with diabetes, have had fungal infections with Candida. Babies can get a Candida infection in their mouth. 

Candida auris (C. auris) is different. It is antifungal-, antibiotic- and multi-drug-resistant and can be deadly. It also shows resistance to disinfectants and common cleaning products.

It first appeared in the U.S. in 2016. 

A study on the health care systems in Miami showed six cases in 2019 and 115 in 2013. Most infections were found in the bloodstream and there was an increase in cases involving the cerebrospinal fluid, as well as bone. 

It’s a “superbug” that presents serious threats in hospitals, exposing vulnerable patients to higher risks of infection and possibly death. Hospitals housing the most vulnerable patients serve as a breeding ground for superbugs.

In health care settings, transmission of Candida auris among patients can occur within three to four hours after contamination of the environment or equipment.

The CDC has classified C. auris as an urgent antimicrobial-resistance threat.

The fungus spreads through medical equipment such as catheters and breathing and feeding tubes.

Patients can be colonized (have areas of the fungus in them) without having symptoms. The most common sites are the skin, the nose, the axilla and groin. It can also colonize in the gastrointestinal and urogenital tracts.

It doesn’t possess a risk to the public. In healthy people, the immune system can eliminate it. For people who have an immune system deficiency or those who are ill and hospitalized, this is a serious concern. Infected patients can shed this fungus on bedrails, doorknobs and other medical equipment. C. auris is a real problem. It is urgent for the CDC to develop an antifungal chemotherapeutic agent to deal with this fungus. With U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. firing some of our most brilliant microbiological researchers at CDC, it’s something that we must be concerned about.

Prof. Michael Kossove is professor emeritus and adjunct professor of microbiology, Touro University, School of Health Sciences.