Cases of a dangerous smell resistant to common drugs have spread at an “alarming rate” in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic of coronaviruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Health and Control prevention of diseases.
Cases of Candida auris, an emerging fungus considered an urgent antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threat, tripled in the United States in just three years, and more than half of the country’s states have reported it.
Also concerning was the tripling in 2021 of the number of cases resistant to echinocandins, the drug most recommended antifungal for the treatment from the infections from C. auris, the health agency said.
The pandemic of COVID-19 it likely drove some of the overall increase in cases, CDC researchers wrote in the paper, released this week by Annals of Internal Medicine.
Hospital workers have been strained by coronavirus patients and this has likely shifted their focus away from disinfecting other types of germs, they said.
C. auris is a form of yeast that is usually harmless to healthy people, but can pose a life-threatening risk to frail hospital and nursing home patients. It spreads easily and can infect wounds, ears and the bloodstream.
The CDC has deemed C. auris an urgent threat to antimicrobial resistance because it is often resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, spreads easily in healthcare settings, and can cause serious infections with high mortality rates.
C. auris is state first identified in Japan in 2009 and has been observed in more and more countries. The first case in the United States occurred in 2013, but it wasn’t reported until 2016. That year, US health officials reported 53 cases.
The new study found that cases have continued to climb since then, rising to 476 in 2019, 756 in 2020 and then 1,471 in 2021.
Doctors have also detected the fungus on the skin of thousands of other patients, making them a risk of transmission to others.
Many of the first US cases were infections imported from abroad, but now most infections have spread to the United States, the authors noted.
What are the symptoms of C. auris infection?
People who get infected by C. ear often they are already ill with other medical conditions, so it can be difficult to determine if they have been infected with this fungus.
According to CDCThe most common symptoms of invasive Candida infection are fever and chills that do not improve after antibiotic treatment for a suspected bacterial infection. Other symptoms may develop if the infection spreads to other parts of the body, such as the Heartthe brain, eyes, bones or joints.
Only a lab test can diagnose C. ear infection.
People who are very ill, have invasive medical devices such as ventilators, or have long or frequent stays in health care settings are at particular risk of C. ear infection, the CDC said in its report.
“The rapid increase and geographical spread of cases is concerning and underscores the need for one surveillance laboratory capacity, faster diagnostic testing, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control measures,” said CDC epidemiologist Dr. Meghan Lyman, lead author of the study. in a statement.