Candida Auris is a fungi-based superbug. As of February 28th, 2019 The Center for Disease Control has confirmed that the disease has spread over to 30 different countries all over to the world. The CDC with a total of 12 cases of the superbug found in our very own Florida.
To fully comprehend the severity of this disease, we have to understand the complete history of Candida Auris.
Candida Auris was first discovered back in 2009 all the way in Tokyo, Japan when a 70-year-old woman had strains of it in her ear. To how it has spread to the United States since then is rather peculiar.
The superbug can pass on like other superbugs, through contact with those non-afflicted, however, the reason why it is so unorthodox is that the spread majorly occurred in hospitals. The type of probes doctors have been using to measure patients temperature have been contaminated with the superbug. When doctors realized this it was already too late as many were contaminated.
Candida Auris isn’t your ordinary superbug, it technically is a fungus and its crucial difference from being just other fungi is that it adapts rapidly to anti-fungal medications.
According to Dr.Tom Chiller “It acquires resistance fast, and then it remains resistant. It has the ability to develop pan-resistance.”
The ability to become anti-fungal resistant or resistant to certain medications, in general, gives it the title of superbug. An example of how powerful a superbug can be in our society is Klebsiella Pneumoniae.
A woman in Nevada died because Klebsiella Pneumoniae was resistant to all 26 antibiotics available in America. Candida Auris could rise to the same power of Klebsiella and prove to be a threat of global proportions even succeeding it.
The CDC states that there are 587 confirmed cases of Candida Auris in the United States alone as of February 28, 2019. Meaning that there are less than 1% of people infected in the United States.
Thankfully the CDC is actively working to control this infection before it gets out of hand.
