Just when you thought it was safe not to worry about new health threats post COVID, a new one crops up. This one is especially scary. Per Newsweek, "Life-threatening fungal infections are on the rise in the United States." This trend has been labeled "alarming" by the CDC. One of the leading culprits is a fungus known as Candida auris.
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What should we all be on the lookout for?
First, let's learn a bit more about exactly what this health threat is.
The Fungus Of Concern Is Called Candida auris
It Can Be Resistant To Treatment And Cases Are Widely Ticking Up
Per the outlet, "Between 2020 and 2021, the U.S. saw a 95 percent rise in clinical cases of infections with the yeast Candida auris, roughly a third of which were fatal. Equally concerning was the tripling in the number of Candida cases that were resistant to common antifungal treatments."
Nicholas Money, a biology professor at Miami University in Ohio who is also a mycologist (a specialist in the study of fungi), said that "Candida auris has spread globally in a very short space of time."
Patients in hospitals can get it, and "older patients" are especially susceptible.
How Candida auris Spreads
The Way It Was Initially Found May Surprise You
Candida auris was originally found in Japan within a woman's ear fifteen years ago. It can spread insidiously in hospitals through patients' catheters, for example, then establishing itself in their blood. The fungus can also be on commonly-touched, ordinary surfaces like doorknobs, blood-pressure cuffs and bed rails.
Newsweek reported that, "For those with severe infections, the mortality rate can be as high as 60 percent, although this is usually in patients who were extremely sick before the fungus took hold."
One Expert Has A Theory About Why Candida auris Is Now So Rampant And Hard To Treat
He Cites A Particular Agriculture Industry Practice
Professor Money said that anti-fungal drugs similar to the ones used for human beings are used in agriculture. This means that, according to his argument, the most potent fungi which survive these treatments continue to flourish while weaker fungi get knocked down. As time passes, the more resistant varieties of fungi become more highly drug-resistant.
There will surely be more information to come about this health issue in the days and weeks ahead.
