Infections more than tripled across the United States, with resistant strains becoming more common. A case has also recently been ascertained in Italy. Here’s what the symptoms are.
Colony of Candida auris grown in the laboratory. Credit: Wikipedia
An influential US think tank is warning about the dangers of infection with strains of White ears (C. earresistant to antifungal drugsa type of fungus that causes candidiasis in humans and sometimes causes invasive infections that can result fatal in one out of three cases. A new investigation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic there has been a surge in cases. In recent days, Italy has also reported the first confirmed infection of this year in Tuscany. Symptoms are different, they may include fever, chills, ear infections, inflammation of wounds (redness, swelling, pus) and blood infections, and depend on the affected area.
The increase in cases recorded across America, which more than tripled between 2020 and 2021, led the CDC to define the infection “a serious threat to global health”. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) also recently highlighted that, due to the species’ propensity to cause outbreaks and the ability to become resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, Candida auris “poses a risk to patients in healthcare settings in Europe”.
What is drug resistant Candida auris and what are the symptoms of the infection
White ears is a mushroom described for the first time in 2009, which owes its name (auris) to the Latin orecchie, because it was initially identified in the ear canal of a patient admitted to a Japanese hospital. As stated, in its invasive form, it can infect not only the ear, but also the blood, the central nervous system, kidneys, liver, bones, muscles, joints, spleen and eyes, causing symptoms that vary according to the affected body area. . The most common symptoms are fever and chills and the most frequently encountered clinical pictures include bloodstream infections, intra-abdominal infections, wound infections and ear infections.
At greater risk of contracting the infection are the elderly, children, frail individuals, smokers and patients with immunological deficiencies or patients returning from surgery. The literature documents the possibility of epidemic outbreaks in health care settings e high lethality in invasive forms (60%).
Above all, his ability to acquire raises the alarm resistance to multiple antifungal drugs among those commonly used to treat infections, a phenomenon that experts call multi-drug resistance. As a highly contagious organism, which can be transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces or contact with infected people, the surge in cases recorded in the United States has been defined as “particularly worrying” dall’American College of Physicians (ACAP).
Why the killer mushroom is now worrying experts
The new CDC investigation, released Monday on the Annals of Internal Medicinerevealed that the strains of White ears resistant to drugs are becoming increasingly common. The number of clinical cases of C. ear has grown year-over-year, from a 44% percentage increase in 2019 to a 95% increase in 2021with a number of infections caused by strains resistant to echinocandins (a new class of antifungal drugs) which in 2021 was approx 3 times higher than in each of the previous 2 years.
“Cases and transmission of C. auris – reads the publication – have increased in recent years, with a dramatic increase in 2021”. The growth of cases of infections due to strains resistant to echinocandins, specifically, are “particularly worrying why echinocandins are first-line therapy for invasive Candida infections, including C. auris”.
US experts highlight need for “best infection detection and control practices to prevent spread of C. auris,” as recently noted also by the World Health Organization (WHO) which, in the list of emerging pathogens that pose a threat to public health, includes C. ear in the group of critical priority fungitogether with Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans e Cryptococcus neoformans. “Fungal infections are growing and are increasingly resistant to treatments, becoming a public health problem worldwideHanan Balkhy, WHO Deputy Director-General for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) said on the release of the list.