The scariest superbug on the CDC’s radar is sweeping the US with hundreds infected – but hospitals are NOT obliged to tell patients if they have infections on site…(Attacks Continue…8)
A superbug fungus is on the CDC’s radar after sweeping across US hospitals
Between 2013 and April 2017, there had been 66 cases recorded in the US
Now, there have been more than 500, with 30 more under inspection
The yeast is resistant to most mainline treatments, has 60% mortality risk
Hospitals and states can refuse to report their infections to avoid becoming labeled as a source of infection
By MIA DE GRAAF HEALTH EDITOR
DAILYMAIL.COM
9 April 2019
The most worrying ‘superbug’ on the CDC’s radar has infected more than 600 Americans in recent years – and officials say the spread is picking up pace globally.
But hospitals are not obliged to inform patients if they have the infection, which is most commonly contracted in hospitals, according to an alarming new feature by the New York Times.
Candida auris, a harmful form of yeast, is resistant to most drugs, with a 60 percent mortality rate.
In the US, 300 New Yorkers people have been infected since 2013, 144 in Illinois and 104 in New Jersey, with hundreds more in the UK, South Africa, India, Colombia, Venezuela and more.
The spread, in the face of rising drug resistance, has triggered the CDC to update its guidelines – urging medics to quarantine C auris sufferers.
However, according to the New York Times, CDC rules allow states and hospitals to keep their infection count secret.
The move is intended to protect centers and states from panic and media attention, but experts warn it is leaving the general public in the dark about a serious threat.
First identified in Japan in 2009, the fungus has spread to more than 12 countries around the globe.
Between 2013 and April 2017, there had been 66 cases in the US.
Now, there have been 587, with 30 more probable cases.
‘It’s pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identify,’ Dr Lynn Sosa, deputy state epidemiologist of Connecticut, told the New York Times.
CDC analyses show most cases (around 86 percent) are resistant to the common anti-fungal treatment fluconazole, about half (43 percent) were resistant to amphotericin B, which is used for aggressive fungal infections, and 3 percent were resistant to echinocandins – the standard treatment for a bacterial infection like this.
According to a 2017 report, most cases were spread in hospitals or between family members.
‘In Illinois, three cases were associated with the same long-term care facility,’ the researchers wrote in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The Rest…HERE
