Interview: Why the United States calls Candida auris "urgent threat": expert CDC – Xinhua



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by the writer Xinhua Tan Jingjing

LOS ANGELES, April 21 (Xinhua) – Candida auris (C. auris), an emerging fungus that can cause deadly blood circulation and infections in people with compromised immune systems, is a serious health hazard, said a American expert. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In a recent phone interview with Xinhua, Tom Chiller, head of the Mycotic Diseases Branch, said the CDC had labeled the infection as an "urgent threat" and alerted US health facilities of the "superbug" on the rise in the country.

Currently, in the United States, 617 clinical cases of C. auris have been reported as of February 28, of which 587 confirmed and 30 probable, according to the CDC.

On April 17, the first two cases of pan-resistant resistance in the United States were reported by antifungal sensitivity and interpretation tests.

Most cases of C. auris in the United States have been detected in the New York, New Jersey and Chicago areas.

According to Chiller, the CDC identified C. auris as an "urgent threat" for three main reasons. First of all, it is highly resistant to drugs, which means that it is resistant to several antifungal medications commonly used to treat Candida infections.

Second, it is transmitted in health facilities. For this reason, it is important to quickly identify C. auris in an inpatient patient so that health facilities can take special precautions to stop its spread.

Thirdly, it is difficult to identify using standard laboratory methods and it can be misidentified in laboratories without specific technology. Misidentification can lead to inappropriate management.

Caller C. auris, a new fungus has appeared in the last 10 years. Chiller said he was first identified in 2009 in Japan. Scientists had no idea of ​​this fungus before, and it was only named after 2009.

Since 2016, an increasing number of infections have been reported in various US states and in more than 20 countries.

According to the CDC, 30 to 60% of people infected with C. auris died. However, many of these people had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death.

Most infected people were treated in intensive care units and had been exposed to drugs for a long time, Chiller said.

"They were very sick before being infected with C. auris.It is hard to say that they died of the infection.More precisely, they died of the infection." , did he declare.

According to Chiller, most C. auris infections can be treated with a clbad of antifungal medications called echinocandins. However, some C. auris infections have survived the three main clbades of antifungal drugs, making them more difficult to treat.

Early identification of the infection is essential for effective treatment, he added.

Regarding the reason for multidrug resistance, Chiller said overuse, misuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics could contribute to the causes.

At least 18 people in China are reported to have been infected with C. auris so far, he said.

Chiller said China was just beginning to identify the first cases and should continue to search for more cases to control the spread of the infection and treat infected people as soon as possible.

He added that the infection would not pose a threat to healthy people because it still strikes critically ill people. The public does not have to worry about that.

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