Candida auris: CDC warns of risk of new, drug resistant strain in US

Outbreaks have been reported in the US of transmissible Candida auris fungal infections that have been found to be resistant to drugs and difficult to treat. In a report published on 22 July the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that two clusters of cases had been reported in Washington, DC, and in Texas.1

C auris is a different organism from the “black fungus” reported among covid-19 patients in India.

“These two simultaneous, independent clusters of pan- or echinocandin resistant C auris cases in patients with overlapping inpatient health care exposures and without previous echinocandin use provide the first evidence suggesting that pan- or echinocandin-resistant C auris strains might have been transmitted in US health care settings . …