A case of Candida Auris in Tuscany. Last year a person died in Veneto. The alarm for the spread of this fungus above all remains very high in the United States. In 2019, the first to raise the case was the New York Times. Within a few hours all the most important newspapers, including Italian ones, were reporting the news. A drug-resistant and potentially lethal fungus was spreading around the world.
It is precisely the Candida Auris, a yeast-like fungus that was isolated for the first time in 2009 in the ear canal (“auris” in Latin means “ear”) of a Japanese woman. Later it had the ability to migrate to other continents, causing even fatal epidemic outbreaks.
Candida Auris resistant to drugs used against fungal infections
“This Candida type is resistant to the drugs we commonly use for the prophylaxis and treatment of fungal infections. We are talking about the azole and in particular of fluconazole. Unfortunately, however, experts have also found resistance to other classes of less used antifungals, such as echinocandins and theamphotericin B», dice Antonella Chestnuthead of the Infectious Diseases Unit of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milan and Director of the School of Specialization in Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan.
«It can be said, therefore, that we are facing a extremely difficult to treat fungus. It can be associated with a very high mortality rate. It extensively contaminates the environments in which the patient is present, so much so that in these cases it is necessary purify premises, equipment and objects with hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite».
Does it therefore pose a threat to public health?
Surely Candida Auris is scary. According to still little known mechanisms, it resists antifungals and is difficult to eradicate, it is now clear. “This, however, fits into the more general and global context of theantibiotic resistance, which has long been arousing much concern in the scientific community. It is estimated, in fact, that in the coming decades the resistance of some bacteria against antibiotics will be one of the main causes of death in the world“.
Furthermore, not all countries are “prepared” to deal with such fungal infections. “If laboratories in Europe are already perfectly equipped to recognize Candida Auris and diversify it from Albicans, the same cannot be said for other parts of the world“.
In Italy, caution but no alarmism
“The problem of drug resistance should not be ignored given the impact it could have on the general population. However, a certain caution must be maintained, especially in our country. No outbreaks have been reported to date. So it’s right to talk about it and understand what you risk if you contract the infection, but without causing unnecessary alarmism » concludes Castagna.
Read also…