April 2023

Last month, the CDC released a newsroom article covering the the alarming threat of Candida auris in healthcare facilities.

According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), C. auris is an urgent antimicrobial resistance (AR) threat in the United States, the highest level of concern.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, shows C. auris spreading at an alarming rate in the United States from 2020-2021, with 3x more cases resistant to echinocandins, the antifungal medicine commonly used for treating C. auris infections.

C. auris is an opportunistic pathogen, causing severe infections in immunocompromised people, patients with frequent or long-term hospital stays, and patients with indwelling medical devices. From 2017 through 2022, there were a total of 5,590 clinical cases (cases where infection is present) and 13,149 screening cases (cases where the fungus is detected but not causing infection).

“The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” said CDC epidemiologist Dr. Meghan Lyman, lead author of the paper.

The increase in cases of C. auris is a reminder of the importance of infection prevention and control, including proper hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment, and cleaning and disinfection of equipment and surfaces.

Microchem’s skilled microbiologists are trained to test with the fungus, effectively screening and validating your medical devices and disinfectants against C. auris. Send us an email to learn more.