The cases of resistant candidiasis in the US has almost doubled in a year
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Forget about The Last of Us and the cordyceps. There’s a real fungus in town.
The number of cases of Candida auris infection has increased by 95% between 2020 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC.
In addition, doctors began to test patients for this fungus more often: in 2021, such an analysis was prescribed three times more often than in 2020.
Also the fungus has developed resistance to echinocandin drugs. Yikes.
The first traces of C. auris in humans were discovered in 1996 in South Korea.
The main problem with the treatment is that it is resistant to almost all known antifungal drugs.
In the US, this candidiasis was detected in 2020, and since then, the CDC has been closely monitoring its spread.
THE STUDY
A team from the Department of Fungal Infections of the CDC, prepared a report on the dynamics of cases of C. auris candidiasis over a three-year period from 2019 to 2021.
As of December 31, 2021, a total of 3,270 cases of candidiasis and 7,413 investigations for candidiasis have been reported in the country.
From 2019 to 2021, C. auris candidiasis was detected for the first time in 17 states.
In 2019, the number of infections was 476, in 2020 it increased by 59% to 756, and in 2021 by 95% to 1,471 cases.
The number of studies on C. auris has also increased to 4041 analyzes in 2021.
In 2020, 86% of C. auris isolates were found to be resistant to azoles and 26% to amphotericin B.
Resistance to azoles increased by about 7% in a year.
Resistance to echinocandins has also increased, although it is still at a low level.
However, during the study period, the country's first infection with echinocandin-resistant C. auris was registered.
Sources:
- Annals of Internal Medicine: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-3469
- CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/p0320-cauris.html
- BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65027557
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