'Superbug' Fungus, Candida Auris—What You Need To Know

A 2021 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detailed outbreaks of a drug-resistant superbug in hospitals and long-term care facilities in Washington, DC, and Texas. While the fungus—Candida auris—wasn't new, the report suggested transmission of strains resistant to several medications for the first time in the US.

Between January and April 2021, 123 people were infected with the fungus in DC and Texas. Several of the infections were resistant to at least one drug, and five were resistant to all three types of major antifungal medications usually used to treat these infections.

Despite the occurrence of these outbreaks in DC and Texas in a relatively short period, CDC officials indicated they didn't think the instances were linked. However, the report warned that "surveillance, public health reporting, and infection control measures are critical to containing further spread."

Hearing news of a drug-resistant infection is alarming. Here is what you need to know about this superbug.

What Is Candida Auris?

Candida auris—or C. auris—is a type of yeast or fungus that the CDC has dubbed a "serious global health threat." It can cause severe illness in people who are hospitalized and can even enter the bloodstream, leading to invasive infections.

The fungus is often resistant to one or more antifungal drugs used to treat Candida infections. It's also hard to identify these infections using standard lab methods, which can leave people misdiagnosed and without proper treatment for too long.

Candida auris is known for causing outbreaks in healthcare settings, William Schaffner, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, told Health. "This is a real problem among seriously ill patients," he stated.

Causes

Candida auris infections can spread in healthcare settings through contact with a contaminated surface or equipment, according to the CDC. It can also spread from person to person.

The CDC also stated that more information is needed to understand more about how the infection spreads.

Symptoms

This is where things get a little tricky. People who get Candida auris infections are usually already sick from another medical condition, the CDC stated, so it can be hard to parse out the exact symptoms.

Still, the most common symptoms are fever and chills that don't get better after antibiotic treatment.

Candida auris infections can be hard to diagnose through symptoms alone. However, according to the CDC, infections are usually found through cultures of blood or other bodily fluids—and special laboratory tests are needed to identify this specific infection to weed it out from other more common types of Candida.

Treatment

If a Candida auris infection isn't drug-resistant, it will usually be treated with one of three major classes of medication: azoles, polyenes, and echinocandins.

But things get trickier if the Candida auris is resistant to those medications. "That complicates already complicated medical care," stated Dr. Schaffner. "It puts us in a very difficult situation."

In these cases, doctors will do all they can to provide supportive treatment and hope an individual's immune system can fend off the infection, Dr. Schaffner stated. "Often, doctors have to scrape together some type of treatment regimen that is suboptimal in these situations," Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Health.

In some cases, Candida auris infections can be fatal, though the CDC indicated it is not known if people with a Candida auris infection are more or less likely to die as compared to other Candida infections. When someone dies from Candida auris infection—or any Candida infection—it is usually because the person had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death.

How Worried Should You Be About Drug-Resistant Candida Auris?

If you're a healthy person and not currently in a hospital or long-term care facility, you really shouldn't stress about this, Dr. Adalja indicated, adding: "Candida auris is really unable to cause severe disease in healthy individuals. That is why cases are concentrated in healthcare facilities in nursing homes where frail individuals who are susceptible to it are."

Still, Dr. Adalja warned, this "underscores the need to be very proactive when it comes to emerging infectious disease threats and to have a robust pipeline for new anti-microbial agents."

Overall, though, "the healthy general public doesn't have to fear this," stated Dr. Adalja.