Candida Auris: An Emerging Threat
Jeannine LeCompte, Compliance Research Specialist
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),Candida auris (C. auris) is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat. It is often multidrug-resistant, meaning that it is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections. It is difficult to identify with standard laboratory methods, and can be misidentified in labs without specific technology. Misidentification may lead to inappropriate management. It has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in a patient so that healthcare facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread.
Patients can remain colonized with C. auris for a long time and C. auris can persist on surfaces for a month or more. This can result in the spread of C. auris between patients in healthcare facilities. Most C. auris cases in the United States have been detected in the New York City area, New Jersey, and the Chicago area.
The New York State clinical case count as of October 23, 2019 was 415. This group includes individuals who were ill and had C. auris detected during their clinical care. The C. auris screening case count was 594. This group includes individuals who were not ill from C. auris but were tested specifically for it as part of a public health investigation. The cases in New York are primarily concentrated among hospital patients and nursing home residents in New York City.
The New Jersey C. auris confirmed clinical case count as of August 31, 2019, was 137. The probable clinical case count was 22. The New York State Department of Health and the Greater New York Hospital Association have created a training video, which targets environmental services staff, to demonstrate the necessary steps in cleaning a patient or resident room that has tested positive for the fungus C. auris. The video demonstrates the process for both daily and terminal cleanings.
You can view the video here:
For more information:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/index.html
State of New Jersey Department of Health
https://nj.gov/health/cd/topics/cauris.shtml
New York State Department of Health
