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.
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Cheddar News checks in with a coast-to-coast forecast of the weather for Monday, Sept. 18, 2023.
The United Nations revised its death toll numbers from the massive flooding in Libya.
Hurricane Nigel has formed in the Atlantic and is expected to intensify in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, Lee brought rough surf along the U.S.-Canada border but the storm is expected to dissipate by Tuesday.
The United Nations is releasing an updated death toll in the Libya flooding disaster.
Hurricane Nigel has formed in the Atlantic and is expected to intensify in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, Lee brought rough surf along the U.S.-Canada border but the storm is expected to dissipate by Tuesday.
Cheddar News checks in with a coast-to-coast forecast of the weather for Monday, Sept. 18, 2023.
Yelling that the future and their lives depend on ending fossil fuels, tens of thousands of protesters on Sunday kicked off a week where leaders will try once again to curb climate change primarily caused by coal, oil and natural gas.
Atlantic storm Lee — which made landfall at near-hurricane strength, bringing destructive winds and torrential rains to New England and Maritime Canada — kept weakening Sunday after officials withdrew warnings and predicted the storm would disappear early this week.
