Drug-resistant cases of the fungus Candida auris jumped in 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday, after the fungus "spread at an alarming rate" in health care facilities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Candida auris isn't considered a threat to healthy people whose immune systems can fight it off. However, it can be dangerous or even deadly for people who are already sick, use invasive medical devices or have long or frequent stays at medical facilities.
"People (are) getting it through the skin, into catheters, IV lines then getting into the blood stream. Unfortunately then people get really sick," said infectious disease expert Monica Gandhi.
CDC data shows 30% to 60% of people with Candida auris infections died, though that figure is based on a limited number of patients, many of whom had other serious illnesses.
Researchers said the number of Candida auris cases resistant to echinocandins, a first-line treatment for the fungus, in 2021 was about triple what it had been in each of the previous two years. The CDC considers the fungus an "urgent threat" because it is often multidrug resistant, spreads easily in health care facilities, and can cause infections with high death rates.
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