Deaths after epidemic of “drug-resistant fungi” in two US cities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that an outbreak of the drug-resistant “superbug” fungus has spread to some patients in hospitals and care facilities in Texas and Washington, DC.

The fungus “Candida urus” attacks people with weakened immune systems, according to “CBS News”.

The CDC said evidence indicates that these cases have been transmitted person-to-person, which is the first such case in the United States.

said the doctor. This type of fungus, first seen in the United States in 2013, “is resistant to many antifungal drugs, and it is resistant to all of the drugs we use to kill bacteria and fungal strains in hospitals.” , Nita Ogden, CBS internal medicine specialist, said in 2019.

Of the 101 cases of yeast infection identified in Washington, DC, from January to April 2021, three were isolated because they are resistant to the three main classes of antifungal drugs.

Twenty-two cases were reported in Texas during the same period, with two cases resistant to three antifungal drugs and five cases resistant to two of the drugs.

“Fox 4 News” reported that a day after the CDC said an incurable fungus killed two people in North Texas hospitals this year, Collin County released information saying the fungus also had caused the death of four people in two hospitals.

Information was released on Friday night about the possibility of more cases in North Texas hospitals.

“Three cases in DC and two in Dallas were resistant to the three main classes of drugs, the two patients in Dallas who had drug-resistant cases, and one patient in DC died of a similar illness,” The Hill reported. .

“This is the first time we’ve started to see this drug-resistant fungus, and patients are picking up infections from each other,” said Megan Lyman, a doctor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.