The CDC Releases Warnings About the New Superbug
By: Alexandria Addesso
In the past several months the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released statements on a new multi-drug resistant yeast that causes life threatening complications that leads to fatalities in about 60 percent of those infected. The strain is called Candida Auris.
Yeast is found naturally within the human body and even on the skin. Although its function is to protect the body from foreign invaders, unsafe levels of yeast overgrowth can be detrimental. Infections can usually be treated by antifungal medications, but since Candida Auris is resistant to these treatments, the mortality rate remains high and infections often go misdiagnosed because most clinical laboratories do not have the technology to specify this unique form of candida. In the nine countries identified to have outbreak thus far, Japan, South Korea, India, South Africa, Kuwait, Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom, cases are supposed to be directly reported to the state or local health authorities.
Candida Auris was first documented in 2009 at a Japanese hospital in a patient suffering from an ear infection. Extended hospital stays have been identified as the main means of transmission of the Candida Auris infection. In a written statement the CDC cautioned that all “Healthcare facilities who have patients with C. auras infection or colonization should ensure thorough daily and terminal cleaning and disinfection of these patients’ rooms using an EPA-registered hospital grade disinfectant with a fungal claim.”
Thus far Candida Auris infections have been documented to cause bloodstream infections, wound infections, and otitis. Those infected seemed to share in common similar risk factors to those suffering from more common candida infections such as recent surgery, recent antibiotics use, diabetes mellitus, and central venous catheter use. Maintaining a strong and healthy immune system is the key.
