[ad_1]
Worldwide, a new drug-resistant infection has emerged.
The New York Times reported on Saturday morning that an elderly man had been admitted to the Mount Sinai Hospital branch in Brooklyn for abdominal surgery. After blood tests, it was revealed that he was infected with Candida auris, a mushroom recently discovered but identified by patients around the world. The fungus is the most deadly for those whose immune system is already weakened.
The old man, who was not named by the Times, was isolated in the intensive care unit, but died 90 days later. What makes his case so scary is that after his death, the doctors tested his room and discovered that the mushroom was all over.
"Everything was positive: the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump," said Dr. Scott Lorin, president of the Brooklyn branch . "The mattress, the bed rails, the box holes, the blinds, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive."
The hospital had to use "special cleaning equipment" and even remove some of the ceiling and floors to eliminate the fungus.
Cases of C. auris have been reported in Venezuela, Spain, Britain, India, Pakistan and South Africa, according to the Times. In the United States, patients from Illinois and New Jersey have also been reported, as well as others in New York.
The Centers for Disease Control said it had "identified 51 patients and 61 patients being screened" in New York alone. The CDC reported that 45% of clinical case patients died within 90 days.
In addition, in the same study related above, 98% of patients in clinical cases were resistant to fluconazole, used to treat serious fungal infections such as meningitis. The strength and resistance of the infection led the CDC to consider C. auris as a "serious threat", claiming that it infected 3,400 and caused 220 deaths per year.
The CDC also reported that the median age of clinical case patients was 72, but that the age of those infected ranged from 21 to 96 years. Fifty-one percent of those infected were men, and all patients had "serious concurrent medical conditions," such as those requiring "mechanical ventilation, a central venous catheter, or gastrostomy tubes."
Infections such as C. auris may have developed as a result of antibiotic abuse, the Times reported. Such excessive prescription has reduced the effectiveness of drugs, allowing bacterial infections, once curable, to develop again. Now, fungal infections are becoming resistant.
Naturally, those most at risk for these "superbugs" are newborns and the elderly, who usually have a weaker immune system.
[ad_2]
Source link