A particularly troubling form of fungal infection is being found in elevated numbers of Americans across parts of the United States, according to a recent study.
The fungus, which was first identified in this country nearly a decade ago, has continued to flourish in the intervening years. In addition to states where cases were already somewhat widely reported, Georgia and Florida have noted a recent uptick.
As The Hill reported, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already warned about its apparent drug-resistant characteristics:
The CDC has called Candida auris “an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” because it’s resistant to anti-fungal drugs, making it hard to treat an infection once it occurs.
“If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own,” Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told Nexstar.
People with a healthy immune system may be able to fight off infection on their own, but Candida auris mainly spreads in health care settings, where people are sick and vulnerable. People with catheters, breathing tubes, feeding tubes and PICC lines are at the highest risk because the pathogen can enter the body through these types of devices.
When the fungus infects a patient, it can be hard to identify what’s going on. Symptoms are like those of any infection, including fever and chills.
Another reason Candida auris is so concerning is because of how well it has adapted to surviving on surfaces, like countertops, bedrails and doorknobs.
Social media users expressed mixed reaction to the latest update:
Can CDC get us to panic over a fungus among us?
– COVID failed
– Monkeypox failed
– flu failedPANIC TIME!!! pic.twitter.com/e1up2wyCFh
— RetiredPublius (@ProffesorPubli1) March 22, 2025
I agree….stay out of hospitals and keep away from doctors. Eat healthy and get exercise.
— Plumb Mad
(@Jimstonewall) March 13, 2025
We aren’t falling for it again
— Iain (@elephantbridge) March 23, 2025
As NewsNation reported:
New cases of a dangerous, drug-resistant fungus have been identified in at least two states’ hospital systems.
Candida auris, also called C. auris, was first identified in the U.S. in 2016. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year, jumping substantially in 2023 (the last year of data available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Recently, cases have proliferated in Georgia, the state’s health department told local news outlet WJCL. A study published this week, which focused on the Jackson Health System in Miami also found cases of the fungus have “rapidly increased.”
Here’s some coverage of the CDC’s warning from about two years ago:
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport.
View the original article here.
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