Increase in Drug-Resistant Fungus Related to Pandemic
Candida Auris keeps appearing in hospitals that are treating patients with Coronavirus
Researchers studying cultures of the fungus Candida Auris (C. Auris) collected from a Brazilian hospital have noticed a sharp increase in the superbug's resistance to antifungal drugs used to treat it, reports Medical News Today.
The results of the study, which were published in the Journal of Fungi, tell us that the strong outbreaks of C. Auris and the increasing resistance of these fungi to antibiotics may have been affected by the changes that occurred in the control of infections during the coronavirus pandemic, including limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves and face masks.
The C. Auris sample that was recently collected in a specialized hospital for COVID-19 cases had to require a much more potent dose of antifungal medication (approximately four to five times more than that used in a sample collected at the end of 2020)
“The species quickly becomes resistant to multiple drugs and isn’t very sensitive to the disinfectants used by hospitals and clinics,” said Dr. Arnaldo Colombo, head of the Special Mycology Laboratory at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil. “As a result, it’s able to persist in hospitals, where it colonizes workers and ends up infecting patients with severe COVID-19 and other long-stay critical patients.”
C. Auris is a relatively new superbug. It was first described in the year of 2009 after it was discovered inside the ear of a 70-year-old woman in Japan. However, research indicates that this resistant fungus emerged at the same time in Pakistan, India, South Africa, and Venezuela. Over the past decade, the mysterious bug has been reported in patients in multiple countries around the world, including the US, and has also infected more than 4,700 people.
C. Auris can cause infections of the bloodstream, wounds, and the ear. The U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 30% to 60% of people with C. Auris infections die; however many of these patients also had other life-threatening illnesses.
In the past, C. Auris infections were mostly seen in long-term care facilities for people with severe illnesses. However, since the start of the pandemic, outbreaks have been occurring in the COVID-19 units of hospitals.
Source: CMMOnline, Center of Disease Control, IFL Science, MDPI Open Access Journals