Details of the resistant Candida auris fungus that attacks patients whose immune system is weakened

This is not that the Candida auris mushroom to be as mysterious as the first journalistic chronicles before its virulent appearance in several countries of the world, but – if it is possible to choose an adjective to describe it – the correct one is perhaps "resistant", because it has shown up to today a high survival power. Now, let's unravel it and why.

This mushroom -Candida auris- integrates the "package" of so-called nosocomial infections and has a strong resistance to the most common antibiotics which are used to repel an infection between the boundaries of a health facility. He adds to the diagnosis on the "theater of operations" of this mushroom, the difficulty of its early detection, causing when a treatment is offered which have innate resistance to various commonly used antibiotics.

This fungus produces serious and invasive diseases that affect the blood, heart and brain with high mortality. The countries reporting up to 2019 Candida auris infection are the United States, Canada, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Pakistan, Japan, India and several countries of the African continent, including South Africa.

In Argentina, according to the current authority on health, the National Administration of Laboratories and Institutes of Health (ANLIS) "Dr. Carlos Malbrán", in Argentina, no case of Candida auris infection has been reported.

According to the ANLIS-Malbrán paper, the mushroom-emerging-Candida auris would have been discovered in Japan in 2009 because of an infection in the ear of a healthy woman. It is multiresistant to most antifungals commonly used to treat Candida infections.

Difficult to identify by standard laboratory methods, requires special identification techniques, which are not present in all laboratories.

The transmission is done by the hands of health personnel and the environment surrounding the patient (room, bed, bedside tables, medical equipment for studies, among others). This is why the importance of hand hygiene with alcohol and proper cleaning in a hospital setting.

In dialogue with Pablo Scapellato, infectious infectiologist and member of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI) took care to clarify the concepts related to the Candida auris fungus before the amplification of the news in Argentina and in the world. "The first important thing is not to confuse this fungus with a virus. This fungus does not differ from any nosocomial infection or more commonly referred to as hospital infection, that is, contracted by patients admitted to a health facility (hospitals and other types). "

What are the specific problems of this fungus? Scapellato asked, "emerging resistant and as a result of the use of antimicrobials and antifungals to treat patients."

"The infectologists know and are aware of the fungus Candida auris, it is not that we have discovered its existence this morning, it is part of the group of germs that integrate nosocomial infections, it is transmitted from person to person … and travelers can spread it, and that's not a minor problem: what can be done better? Better use of antibiotics and nosocomial infection control measures, so these issues need to be addressed as well. more comprehensive review of the scope of health ".

The infectologist Scapellato pointed out Infobae"The main difficulty of this fungus is to offer a cure because it has innate resistance to some commonly used antibiotics and antifungals." What happens in some way with the Candida auris fungus is the survival phenomenon of the fittest … In these places (neonatology, intensive care rooms), we use a lot of antifungals and antimicrobials, which makes the Candida mushroom auris resistant. Its identification is difficult, it is often difficult to name it, but infectologists know the potential and the danger of this fungus. "

Ideal habitat: innunodeprimidos organisms

This fungal germ attacks immunocompromised people, those with cancer, newborns or the elderly. It causes a serious invasive systemic infection and we stress that difficult identification is one of the biggest problems.

Accessed by Infobae, added Lilian Testón, infectious disease specialist at FUNCEI, "The laboratory test confirming the presence of Candida auris takes 30 days.If you think the patient has a nicotine infection (by a fungus), it is not the specific drug against Candida auris that will be used first choice . "

For effective treatment, the Candida auris fungus is susceptible to a group of antibiotics called echinocandins. And this is clearly not the medicine that the doctor will use as the first choice.

Matthew Fisher, Professor of Fungal Epidemiology at Imperial College London, and co-author of a recent scientific journal on the increase of resistant fungi, said that part of of the solution to the Candida auris problem is to treat these patients with antifungals. And be clear that fungi, like bacteria, develop defenses to survive modern medicines.

Recent molecular studies summarized by the ANLIS-Malbrán document showed that Candida auris isolates were not the same in all countries, the fungus being presented in 4 different versions. One of the hypotheses in support of its great resistance is the mbadive and indiscriminate use of antifungals in crops.