The First Cases Of Drug-Resistant Fungus Candida Auris Found In The U.S.

A drug-resistant fungus that first emerged in the U.S. only a few years ago has been linked to four deaths, and health officials are on guard about its potential to spread in healthcare facilities throughout the country.  C. auris, a yeast that has sickened people around the globe and caused potentially deadly infections, appears to have arrived in the U.S. a few years ago, according to the first report on C. auris released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because C. auris cases have cropped up in other countries, the CDC decided to alert all U.S. clinics, labs and public health authorities about the potential danger in June. The alert also called on these facilities to start collecting information about any potential cases of C. auris, which resulted in the CDC’s first study on the fungus.   Thanks to the request for reporting, the CDC found that since 2013, there have been only 13 cases of the fungal infection in the U.S. Between 2013 and August 2016, there were seven cases of the fungal infection reported in the U.S., and these seven are the focus of the first CDC study on C. auris. Since August, six more were reported and are currently being investigated.  While these U.S. cases have been confined to hospital-linked infections and aren’t circulating in the community, public health experts are worried that it could grow into a major threat. There are only three classes of medications ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news