SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KMOX) — Health officials in Illinois are alerting residents about a potentially deadly fungus sweeping through the state. It's called Candida Auris -- more than 270 cases have been confirmed in Illinois in the past three years -- second only to New York -- with about 50 new cases in the past couple of months -- mostly in the Chicago area.
"Candida Auris is a fungus that can cause serious infection," said Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. "It is noteworthy that it is often resistant to medications. It spreads around in healthcare settings, post-acute care facilities and nursing homes. But most people are at very low risk of infection." So what are the symptoms? "For many people it is on your skin -- and if it's on your skin, we call that being colonized," Dr. Ezike tells KMOX. "You might not have any symptoms at all. But it it gets into your blood stream or it gets into an open wound, then you can get much more serious symptoms -- persistent fever and malaise." And it is nearly impossible to detect. "It is definitely invisible to the naked eye," said Dr. Ezike. "It is not something you will see. We need specialized lab technology to even identify it in laboratories."
The good news, at least in Illinois, is that it has been responding to medication. "There are anti-fungal medications that are useful in treating this fungal infection," said Dr. Ezike. "There are some anti-fungal drugs that don't work as well. But the majority of cases here in Illinois have been susceptible to anti-fungals." But again, Dr. Ezike says most people are at low risk of infection. "But unfortunately, the people who are already very sick, who are in long-term care facilities, who have prolonged stays in hospitals -- especially those in intensive care units or on ventilators or have catheters coming out of them, feeding tubes, those people are at highest risk." The best form of prevention, Dr. Ezike says, is good hand hygiene.
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