EMERGING PATHOGEN: MDR FUNGI

Candida auris

Candida auris was 1st isolated in the year 2009 from the external year canal of  a patient in Japan. It belongs to the genus Candida and comes under Yeast. It produces microscopic spores inside special, elongated cells or sacs, known as asci.

How it Reproduce: It belongs to Ascomycota and reproduce asexuallly.   These fungi has the ability to spread into new areas. Candida auris is an emerging yeast pathogen that is underreported because it is misidentified in routine diagnostic laboratories. The resistance of C. auris to fluconazole is particularly worrisome.

Concern about Candida auris

1. The worrisome feature of Candida auris is it’s Multi-Drug-Resistant (MDR) ability. The worry is it is resistant to most antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida It is the first MDR- Candida reported so far.
2. With standard laboratory methods it’s very difficult to identify Candida auris. Misidentification is possible without specific technology that often leads to inappropriate treatment.
3. It has caused outbreaks in health care settings. For this reason, speedy identification of auris during a hospitalized patient is especially necessary so that hospitals will take special precautions to stop its spread.

Report from India

Infection spread by Candida auris was reported in 12 patients and in 2 hospitals in Delhi, India. (Emerging Infectious Diseases. www.cdc.gov/eid. Vol.19, No.10, October 2013). It was resistant to fluconazole and genotypically distinct from isolates from South Korea and Japan.

Global Concern

As an emerging fungal pathogen, it has started to infect patients globally. It caused invasive infections (Refer Notes for Invasive Infection) that are associated with a high death rate. Association of C. auris with bloodstream infections, wound infections and ear infections are reported. Some strains of C. auris are also isolated from respiratory and urine specimens. Reports across the globe concluded that C. auris is a  MDR-Yeast because many strains are resistant to all commercially available antifungal drugs that are used to treat candida infections.

It is difficult to know just how dangerous the fungus is, since so far it’s largely infected patients who were already seriously sick, however the majority of individuals diagnosed with Candida auris have died.

Note: Invasive Infections:  It occurs when the microorganism wins the defense system of the Individual. This could occur once an individual has sores or different breaks within the skin that permit the microorganism to induce into the tissue. Also occurs in individuals with weak immune system that are often associated with chronic illness.