Hospitals on high alert as deadly fungal infection hits the US: Four deaths and 13 cases confirmed of drug resistant yeast that kills up to 60% of people it infects
Cases of Candida auris in New York, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey
All of the patients had serious underlying medical conditions
Infection often spreads in hospitals and other health care settings
MARK PRIGG
DAILYMAIL.COM
4 November 2016
Thirteen cases of a sometimes deadly and often drug-resistant fungal infection, Candida auris, have been reported in the United States for the first time, health officials have confirmed.
The infection, which often spreads in hospitals and other health care settings, was identified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 2016 as an emerging global threat.
Four of the patients diagnosed with the infection have died, although the precise causes remain unclear, the CDC said.
‘We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus,’ CDC Director Tom Frieden said.
‘This is an emerging threat and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others.’
The report in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) described seven of the cases, which occurred between May 2013 and August 2016.
Another six ‘were identified after the period covered by the report and are still under investigation,’ it said.
The Rest…HERE
