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.
Wellness 4 Humanity is testing out COVID-19 related vending machines. Items include tests kits and PPE. Cheddar's Chloe Aiello reports.
A team of international and Chinese scientists looking for the origins of COVID-19 says the coronavirus most likely first appeared in humans after jumping from an animal.
March of Dimes CEO Stacey Stewart spoke with Cheddar about the need to advance the science of COVID vaccine testing on pregnant populations.
After seeing two academic years thrown off course by the pandemic, school leaders around the country are planning for the possibility of more distance learning next fall at the start of yet another school year.
Rescuers in northern India are working to rescue more than three dozen power plant workers trapped in a tunnel after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and sent a wall of water and debris rushing down a mountain.
In the 1920s, an army of real estate boosters set out to redefine Florida from an economic backwater to a ritzy vacation destination, sparking a land boom — and bust — the likes of which America had never seen before.
Nate Boutte, pharmacy manager for Walgreens, talked about the readiness of the pharmacy chain in getting COVID vaccines out in the White House's new distribution plan.
A new study may help answer one of the big open questions about the campaign to suppress the coronavirus outbreak.
Doctors say a 22-year-old man from New Jersey is recovering after receiving a rare face and hands transplant.
Philanthropist and former Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer wants President Biden to do more than just reverse Trump's policies on climate change.
