Treatment-Resistant Fungal Infections Increasing Worldwide Scientists
warn treatment-resistant infections ‘pose a considerable threat to disease control.’ Search Results for Lyme Disease (solitarius.org)
By Alexa Lardieri|
Since January, there have been more than 100 reported cases of a fungal “superbug” in both Dallas and Washington, D.C. The fungus, known as Candida auris, attacks people with weakened immune systems and can be drug-resistant. Dr. Amesh Adalja an infectious disease expert and a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, joined CBSN’s Lana Zak to discuss the outbreak. Source
The number of treatment-resistant fungal infections developing around the world is rapidly growing, scientists warn. In a study published Friday in the journal Science, researchers state that the “recent rate of emergence of pathogenic fungi that are resistant to the limited number of commonly used antifungal agents is unprecedented.”
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According to the study, Worldwide Emergence of Resistance to Antifungal Drugs Challenges Human Health and Food Security, resistance to antifungal drugs over the last 30 to 40 years has increased enormously across the globe. The resistance could stem from the world’s agriculture practices. Researchers hypothesize that it has developed because farmers are spraying their crops to protect them from fungi with the same drugs used to treat fungal infections in people.
The study states that the rapid growth of the human population, urbanization and economic prosperity have led to increased demands for a variety of foods. The agricultural industry has responded to these demands “with crops bred for maximum productivity under the protection of broad-scale pesticide applications, inadvertently breeding out the plants’ own defenses. In parallel, the number of humans at risk from fungal infections is rising rapidly.”
Additionally, the global migration of people and goods, including food, has accelerated the circulation of fungal infections from different parts of the world. People with conditions such as cancer and HIV, as well as older patients, are especially susceptible to infections, which can become life-threatening.
“One consequence is an increasing risk in human health care from naturally occurring opportunistic fungal pathogens that have acquired resistance to this broad class of chemicals,” the study stated. “The rapid emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic fungi and the better-publicized threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria together pose a considerable threat to disease control across diverse anthropogenic systems.”
[ READ: Is the U.S. Prepared for a Public Health Emergency? ]
Sarah Gurr, author of the study and professor at the University of Exeter, told the BBC that the topic hasn’t gotten enough attention. “Emerging resistance to antifungal drugs has largely gone under the radar,” she said. “But without intervention, fungal conditions affecting humans, animals and plants will become increasingly difficult to counteract.”
In order to combat the epidemic, the researchers suggest that those managing disease “reduce our reliance on chemical control alone” and “develop more non chemical control measures.”
‘Superbug’ fungus spread in two cities, health officials say
Candida Auris fungus spreads worldwide, alarming scientists.
CDC calls an emergency. #health #deadly – Bing video
By Gaby Galvin
‘Superbug’ Fungus a ‘Serious Global Health Threat’ A potentially deadly fungus identified in multiple U.S. states and dozens of countries is sparking concern.
Public health officials are warning about a deadly, drug-resistant fungus that has been identified in more than 30 countries, with hundreds of cases in the U.S.
The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, can lead to serious, hard-to-treat infections of the blood, brain, heart and more. It is difficult to identify and has caused outbreaks in health care facilities around the world, emerging as a “serious global health threat,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Untreatable Fungal Infections Increasing
Many C. auris samples have been resistant to two main antifungal medications, and can become resistant to a third even as a patient is being treated.
“We’ve seen it become resistant to all three classes of antifungals, making it a superbug, making it really untreatable, because there is no drug that kills it,” Dr. Tom Chiller, chief of the CDC’s Mycotic Diseases Branch, told CNN.
The first documented U.S. patient became ill in 2013, and since then, health officials had confirmed 587 cases in a dozen states as of the end of February. Most cases have been concentrated in New Jersey, the New York City area and the Chicago area. An additional 1,056 patients who were screened for C. auris in seven states were found to be carrying the fungus, but did not get sick from it.
Infection can be deadly. Citing information from a limited number of patients, the CDC says between 30% and 60% of infected patients have died, though most patients also had other serious health issues.
“Although C. auris was just discovered recently, it has spread quickly,” the Illinois Department of Public Health said. More than 140 cases have been confirmed in the state.
Cases in the U.S. have been linked to patients who had recently received health care in places like India, South Africa and Venezuela. A total of 32 countries have documented at least one case of C. auris, though identifying the strain requires special lab testing and cases in other countries likely have gone unnoticed, the CDC says.
Investigators first identified the fungus in Japan in 2009, though subsequent review shows the earliest known strain of C. auris appeared in 1996 in South Korea. The strain’s relatively recent emergence and unique behavior has baffled many in the public health community, and a New York Times series shows that hospitals and health agencies have been reluctant to discuss their cases out of concern they will be viewed as “infection hubs.”
SOURCE: ‘Superbug’ Fungus a ‘Serious Global Health Threat’ | Health News | US News
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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials said Thursday they now have evidence of an untreatable fungus spreading in two hospitals and a nursing home.
The “superbug” outbreaks were reported in a Washington, D.C, nursing home and at two Dallas-area hospitals, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. A handful of the patients had invasive fungal infections that were impervious to all three major classes of medications.
“This is really the first time we’ve started seeing clustering of resistance” in which patients seemed to be getting the infections from each other, said the CDC’s Dr. Meghan Lyman.
The fungus, Candida auris, is a harmful form of yeast that is considered dangerous to hospital and nursing home patients with serious medical problems. It is most deadly when it enters the bloodstream, heart or brain. Outbreaks in health care facilities have been spurred when the fungus spread through patient contact or on contaminated surfaces.
Health officials have sounded alarms for years about the superbug after seeing infections in which commonly used drugs had little effect. In 2019, doctors diagnosed three cases in New York that were also resistant to a class of drugs, called echinocandins, that were considered a last line of defense.
In those cases, there was no evidence the infections had spread from patient to patient — scientists concluded the resistance to the drugs formed during treatment.
The new cases did spread, the CDC concluded.
In Washington, D.C., a cluster of 101 C. auris cases at a nursing home dedicated to very sick patients included three that were resistant to all three kinds of antifungal medications. A cluster of 22 in two Dallas-area hospitals included two with that level of resistance. The facilities weren’t identified.
Those cases were seen from January to April. Of the five people who were fully resistant to treatment, three died — both Texas patients and one in Washington.
Lyman said both are ongoing outbreaks and that additional infections have been identified since April. But those added numbers were not reported.
Investigators reviewed medical records and found no evidence of previous antifungal use among the patients in those clusters. Health officials say that means they spread from person to person.
C. auris can spread quickly in medical settings through contact with contaminated equipment or personal contact with an infected person. The fungus can live on surfaces for several weeks.
People who have taken antibiotics or antifungal medications, have had recent surgery or spent time in a nursing home, and those who have a tube going into their body – such as a breathing tube – are among those who appear to be at risk of C. auris infection, though the CDC says further study is needed to fully understand risk factors. Among a set of 127 cases confirmed in Illinois, for example, 77% of patients had an IV device.
Infections have been identified in “patients of all ages,
from preterm infants to the elderly,” the CDC says.
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