The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday warned that a deadly fungus called Candida auris (C. auris) is spreading at an "alarming rate" in the U.S. healthcare facilities.
“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, in a press release.
Adding to the agency's concerns, the number of infections that were resistant to echinocandins, which is the antifungal medicine most commonly used to treat C. auris infections, tripled in 2021.
The CDC classified C. auris as an "urgent antimicrobial resistance (AR) threat," meaning "it is often resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, spreads easily in healthcare facilities, and can cause severe infections with high death rates."
Between 2016, when C. auris was first reported, and 2021, there have been a total of 3,270 clinical cases reported and 7,413 screening cases.
The agency said "poor general infection prevention and control (IPC) practices in healthcare facilities" are responsible for the spread. However, expanded efforts to detect cases is also responsible for the jump in reported cases.
Salvage experts have failed to tow a fire-stricken container ship carrying chemicals out to sea and it has started to sink off Sri Lanka’s main port, raising fears of a marine environmental disaster.
Excessive sanitizing over COVID-19 fears may actually be harming more than helping. Cheddar explains.
The White House says the United States on Tuesday will reach 50% of American adults fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
Forecasters expect yet another busy Atlantic hurricane season this year, but they say it won't be as crazy as 2020.
Anyone who gets vaccinated at select state-run vaccination sites in New York next week will receive a lottery scratch ticket with prizes potentially worth millions, as the state tries to boost slowing vaccination rates.
The famed Darwin’s Arch in the Galapagos Islands has lost its top, and officials are blaming natural erosion of the stone.
President Joe Biden says the U.S. will share an additional 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines with the world in the coming six weeks.
China has landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time in the latest step forward for its ambitious space program.
Cheddar explains why some European countries are building new bicycle superhighways and how it'll transform their transportation landscape.
The CDC is easing indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places. The new guidance was announced Thursday at the White House.
