The fungus Candida auris was only discovered about 15 years ago, and the World Health Organization estimates a death rate of 30 to 53 percent of patients infected with the fungus.
Fungi have been shown to be resistant to the most common types of antifungal drugs, with some strains being able to resist all known drugs.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fungal infection has spread to more than 30 countries, and a review of the spread of the fungus in 2020 concluded that there were approximately 4,750 cases worldwide between 2009 and 2019.
Fitr “Candida auris”
The fungus “Candida auris” is a type of yeast, and it is a family of fungi that contains species that are very useful to humans in activities such as making bread and brewing beer, but among them there are also types that cause infection to humans.
Candida auris was first discovered in the ear canal of a patient at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital in 2009, which led to the fungus being named by this name, as the word auris means ear in Latin, according to the BBC. Show related news
Most of the time, the fungus lives on our skin without causing problems, but it can cause infections if the body is not healthy or if it gets to the wrong place, such as the bloodstream or lungs.
Candida auris causes very serious infections in the bloodstream, but it may also affect the respiratory system, central nervous system and internal organs, as well as the skin.
“The biggest problem with these fungi is their resistance to the drugs we have,” said Dr. Tina Joshi, assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Plymouth in the UK.
“But another problem is that recognizing Candida auris infection is very difficult and can easily be confused with other fungi, which could lead to the wrong treatment,” she added.
The fungus is transmitted mainly through contaminated surfaces in hospitals, and sticks to intravenous tubes and blood pressure monitors.
Dr Neil Stone, a fungus expert at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases at King’s College London, said: “Cleaning surfaces is very difficult, and the spread of the fungus can shut down entire healthcare systems.”
It is not likely that you will catch a Candida auris infection in your daily life. The risk is higher if you stay in the hospital for a long time or if you’re in a nursing home, and patients in intensive care are more likely to develop a Candida auris infection, according to the CDC.
Resistance to common antifungal drugs, such as fluconazole, has been observed in most strains of C. auris, which means that these drugs do not work for C. auris. For this reason, less common antifungal drugs have been used to treat infections, but C. auris has now developed resistance to these drugs as well. Show related news
And DNA evidence shows that antifungal resistance genes in Candida auris are very similar to those in the very common Candida albans.
Dr. Joshi said that better understanding who is most susceptible to infection with Candida auris is the first step towards reducing the number of infections, stressing that there is a delay in terms of studying the fungus.
“I’m not surprised at all, we’re now forced to catch up,” he added.
And health care professionals need to know that people who spend extended periods of time in hospitals or nursing homes or those with weakened immune systems are at greater risk.
Not all hospitals identify Candida auris in the same way. Sometimes they are confused with other fungal infections, such as thrush, and given the wrong treatment.
Improving diagnosis will help identify patients infected with H. pylori early, which means giving appropriate treatment, and preventing the spread of infection to other patients.
Source: عربي21 by arabi21.com.
*The article has been translated based on the content of عربي21 by arabi21.com. If there is any problem regarding the content, copyright, please leave a report below the article. We will try to process as quickly as possible to protect the rights of the author. Thank you very much!
*We just want readers to access information more quickly and easily with other multilingual content, instead of information only available in a certain language.
*We always respect the copyright of the content of the author and always include the original link of the source article.If the author disagrees, just leave the report below the article, the article will be edited or deleted at the request of the author. Thanks very much! Best regards!
