(WWJ) – An increase in a certain drug-resistant type of fungal infection spreading in some Michigan hospitals has triggered a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Candida auris, which the CDC calls “an emerging fungus considered an urgent antimicrobial resistance (AR) threat,” spread at an “alarming rate” in healthcare facilities across the country in 2020 and 2021.
In a warning the CDC issued last month, officials say the number of cases resistant to echinocandins – the antifungal medicine most recommended for treatment of C. auris infections – tripled in 2021.
Since 2021 there have been more than 220 cases of C. auris in the state and this year there have been 87, according to a report from the Detroit Free Press.
C. auris spread at Select Specialty Hospital - Northwest Detroit last spring, causing the facility, housed on a single floor of Sinai Grace Hospital, to voluntarily close.
Health officials say it is particularly hard to treat, since it is resistant to multiple drugs and there's only three types of antifungals available to treat infections:
While health officials are concerned about the spread of the fungus, they say “in general, C. auris is not a threat to healthy people.”
“People who are very sick, have invasive medical devices, or have long or frequent stays in healthcare facilities are at increased risk for acquiring C. auris,” the CDC said in a press release.
“The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” said CDC epidemiologist Dr. Meghan Lyman.
C. auris has spread in the United States since it was first reported in 2016, with a total of 3,270 clinical cases (in which infection is present) and 7,413 screening cases (in which the fungus is detected but not causing infection) reported through the end of 2021, according to the CDC.
Cases have increased for many reasons, including poor general infection prevention and control practices in healthcare facilities. Case counts may also have increased because of enhanced efforts to detect cases, including increased colonization screening, a test to see if someone has the fungus somewhere on their body but does not have an infection or symptoms of infection.
The spread of the fungus is not connected to an outbreak of blastomycosis at a paper mill in the Upper Peninsula that has led to at least one death and nearly 100 cases.
More information on C. auris is available on the CDC website.
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