{"id":586127,"date":"2026-08-07T15:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586127\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T15:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T15:56:09","slug":"cases-of-a-fungus-found-in-healthcare-facilities-are-rising-rapidly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/586127\/","title":{"rendered":"Cases of a fungus found in healthcare facilities, are rising rapidly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cases of Candida auris, a fungus found in healthcare facilities, are rising rapidly this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.<\/p>\n

As of July 25, 3,437 clinical cases in 27 states have been reported, CDC data shows. The agency recorded 4,290 clinical cases in all of last year.<\/p>\n

C. auris is primarily a concern for people who are hospitalized. The total number of clinical cases has been increasing since its detection in the US in 2016, the CDC says. The rate has slowed in recent years, but it still remains a \u201ccritical public health threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is Candida auris, and how does it spread?<\/p>\n

Candida auris is a yeast, a specific type of fungus, that spreads through contact with contaminated objects and people, according to Dr. Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.<\/p>\n

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A common characteristic, Snyder said, is its ability to spread and remain in healthcare settings, including nursing facilities and hospitals, as it can resist certain cleaning products. It more seriously affects people who have underlying conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe quickly learned that Candida auris is very good at sticking around in the environment \u2014 and that\u2019s not true for all types of pathogens or germs that may be spread through the environment \u2014 so we pay extra special attention when we know somebody has Candida auris to making sure that we clean and disinfect the environment,\u201d Snyder said.<\/p>\n

The first case of C. auris was detected in Japan in 2009; the first case in the United States was detected in 2016, according to the CDC. The agency characterizes C. auris as an \u201curgent threat,\u201d as it is often multidrug-resistant, meaning certain strains can be resistant to all three classes of antifungal medications used to treat fungal infections.<\/p>\n

What happens when people get it?<\/p>\n

There are two ways people can have C. auris, said Dr. Scott Roberts, an associate professor of infection prevention at Yale University. The first, colonization, occurs when the fungi appear on a person\u2019s skin, and it\u2019s asymptomatic most of the time. The second, infection, happens when it enters the body through a break in the skin.<\/p>\n

C. auris can be detected via a swab of the armpit or groin area.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the time, the infections occur through bloodstream infection. There\u2019s some entry into the skin somewhere; maybe your immune system\u2019s not as good as it should be. You can\u2019t fight it off, and you lead to a big infection,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Although this year\u2019s case count may sound alarming, Dr. Nitipong Permpalung, director of mycology research at Johns Hopkins University, noted that there has also been an increase in screening that differentiates between those who are colonized with C. auris and those who are infected, which could account for some of the rising numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to understand that \u2018OK, this is a positive screening test, and this is through clinical case, and go from there,\u2019 but I understand the concern. But we need to get some more data, and we need to work on the research in this area to improve the care,\u201d Permpalung said.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an associate professor of medicine at Duke University, said the fungi can cause symptoms like fever, low blood pressure or a high heart rate, as well as a dangerous condition called sepsis, when it enters the bloodstream. Because it spreads more often in healthcare settings, Schwartz said, it primarily affects people who have other health conditions.<\/p>\n

Like many germs that can be potentially deadly \u201cin the right circumstance,\u201d Schwartz said, infections can become serious and can be deadly in vulnerable patients, such as those undergoing chemotherapy, recovering from surgery or taking antibiotics.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, these are going to be in patients who are already hospitalized and who are being monitored, and so the healthcare team should be well aware already if patients are showing signs of a general infection, so I don\u2019t think that it\u2019s something individuals need to be vigilant about,\u201d Schwartz said.<\/p>\n

Awareness at the forefront<\/p>\n

Roberts said people who are hospitalized or living in other medical settings should watch for symptoms of sepsis, including fever, high heart rate and low blood pressure.<\/p>\n

The most important thing people can do if their doctor detects the fungi, Roberts said, is to notify those they live with or those who are around them in a care facility. In addition, focus on washing hands and not sharing medical equipment before it is disinfected.<\/p>\n

Although C. auris continues to spread, hospitals and nursing homes can screen people to identify the fungi and potentially isolate them as an infection prevention practice, Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have low confidence every facility can do that, or even right now we don\u2019t even know how big a problem it is because a lot of places are not testing for this or don\u2019t have the lab capability to even identify it,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Roberts noted that once the fungi has colonized a person, treatment generally focuses on any symptoms that develop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s unfortunately not much to do,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt\u2019s moreso just awareness that it is on the scan or that it is there in that room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The-CNN-Wire\u2122 & \u00a9 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cases of Candida auris, a fungus found in healthcare facilities, are rising rapidly this year, the US Centers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":["post-586127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}