Killer fungal infection

[Laodicean60]

Is anyone aware that a fungal infection is spreading in the USA? It is also resistant to medication.

"A deadly fungal infection called Candida auris, with a death rate of 60 percent, is spreading rapidly across the US. It comes as Washington confirmed its first cases last month."

Silent killer fungal infection spreading 'rapidly' through US

The Candida auris fungus has a high fatality rate and is resistant to drugs - with the US seeing a 1,200 per cent increase in cases since 2017

www.express.co.uk

Our news ain't so scary.

Deadly fungal infection spreading at an alarming rate, CDC says

The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[chevyontheriver]

Is anyone aware that a fungal infection is spreading in the USA? It is also resistant to medication.

"A deadly fungal infection called Candida auris, with a death rate of 60 percent, is spreading rapidly across the US. It comes as Washington confirmed its first cases last month."

Silent killer fungal infection spreading 'rapidly' through US

The Candida auris fungus has a high fatality rate and is resistant to drugs - with the US seeing a 1,200 per cent increase in cases since 2017

www.express.co.uk

Our news ain't so scary.

Deadly fungal infection spreading at an alarming rate, CDC says

The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems.

www.nbcnews.com

It's mostly a 'hospital disease' spread by lax infection control. Pick your hospital well and you have no worries for the near future.

 

[RileyG]

It's mostly a 'hospital disease' spread by lax infection control. Pick your hospital well and you have no worries for the near future.

Thanks for this comment. It helps ease my anxiety.

 

[mindlight]

Is anyone aware that a fungal infection is spreading in the USA? It is also resistant to medication.

"A deadly fungal infection called Candida auris, with a death rate of 60 percent, is spreading rapidly across the US. It comes as Washington confirmed its first cases last month."

Silent killer fungal infection spreading 'rapidly' through US

The Candida auris fungus has a high fatality rate and is resistant to drugs - with the US seeing a 1,200 per cent increase in cases since 2017

www.express.co.uk

Our news ain't so scary.

Deadly fungal infection spreading at an alarming rate, CDC says

The fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris, or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems.

www.nbcnews.com

It was first identified in 2009 and has been on the radar for a while now. The workaround seems to be the usual quarantine and wash your hands, and keep wounds clean. Healthy people with strong immune systems generally survive infection. But this is part of a broader trend of anti-microbial resistance that now kills 700000 people annually around the world. Another way that old, weak or sick people will be culled in the modern era. The 60% number is probably because it occurs in hospitals among people already sick with something else. Not sure that number is valid for the general population.

There is no vaccine or antibiotic for a fungal infection but I understand they have been doing some research with mice for this one.

See the below article from 2016

Candida auris

The characteristics, diagnosis and management of Candida auris (C. auris).

www.gov.uk

 

[Ceallaigh]

Thanks for this comment. It helps ease my anxiety.

There's been umpteen killer virus, bacteria or fungus that have made headlines. You're probably a thousand times more likely to die in a car accident or some other accident.

 

[Laodicean60]

Thanks for this comment. It helps ease my anxiety.

You just need to be mindful of precautions, especially going to a clinic or hospital. Just think COVID.

 

[mindlight]

There's been umpteen killer virus, bacteria or fungus that have made headlines. You're probably a thousand times more likely to die in a car accident or some other accident.

The fear here is more about the trends in microbial resistance. The hope is that all the research being done will find a cure before matters come to a head.

 

[Laodicean60]

The fear here is more about the trends in microbial resistance. The hope is that all the research being done will find a cure before matters come to a head.

This is for information and to be mindful that there are still bugs out there that can kill. A video that informed me about this said I can get the fungus on me from blood pressure cuffs and if I happen to have a cut that's when it is harmful.

 

[chevyontheriver]

This is for information and to be mindful that there are still bugs out there that can kill. A video that informed me about this said I can get the fungus on me from blood pressure cuffs and if I happen to have a cut that's when it is harmful.

Just find a hospital and clinic that do stringent infection control procedures and for now you will be just fine. Problem is that doctors are humans too and they get sloppy from time to time like the rest of us. And all the really nasty bugs show up sooner or later at hospitals and clinics.

On the hopeful side, Bubonic Plague killed a big chunk of the population of Europe way back when. It's still around out in the wild all over the place. But it's rare and easily treated. It COULD in theory go crazy again, but we are able to stop it with treatments and quarantines to the point that in reality it is a minor thing.

 

[Laodicean60]

Just find a hospital and clinic that do stringent infection control procedures and for now you will be just fine.

I wonder if this is like a staph infection that you hear about in hospitals. Unfortunately, we only have one hospital and the saying around here is if you want to die go to GCRC.

 

[Merrill]

If you really want to be scared, this is the thing:

Fact Sheets | Drug-Resistant TB | Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB) | TB | CDC

Learn more about extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), including information on symptoms, risk-factors, prevention, and treatment.

www.cdc.gov

if that spreads in the US, we have a big, big problem

as for regular TB, migrants are bringing it into the country: there could be hundreds of thousands of infected individuals from south-of-the-border inside our country now

Tuberculosis among Newly Arrived Immigrants and Refugees in the United States

U.S. health departments routinely conduct post-arrival evaluation of immigrants and refugees at risk for tuberculosis, but this important intervention has not been thoroughly studied.To assess outcomes of the post-arrival evaluation intervention.We categorized ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I caught TB when I was in my 20s, when I was working as a teacher in an inner-city-school. It almost killed me, and I spent 8 months on antibiotics. Had lung damage that lasted for 10+ years.

(I was also blacklisted from teaching in public schools ever again --positive TB test will do that. Had to change careers)

a lot of people are going to get sick

 

[Laodicean60]

if that spreads in the US, we have a big, big problem

I heard a couple of years back there were cases in California brought by illegal immigrants. I have TB but dormant.

 

[Merrill]

I heard a couple of years back there were cases in California brought by illegal immigrants. I have TB but dormant.

We shouldn't be worried about things like COVID

we should be worried about TB spreading and getting out-of-control. And no one is talking about it.

because if they did start talking about it, the attention would shift to migrants ...

 

[Laodicean60]

We shouldn't be worried about things like COVID

we should be worried about TB spreading and getting out-of-control. And no one is talking about it.

because if they did start talking about it, the attention would shift to migrants ...

I agree about COVID-19 I've had it three times and since I'm trying to stay healthy the effects weren't that bad. I heard about this fungus and wanted to let people know thanks for bringing up TB. Bottom line we just need to get healthy and take precautions mainly hand washing.

 

[chevyontheriver]

We shouldn't be worried about things like COVID

we should be worried about TB spreading and getting out-of-control. And no one is talking about it.

because if they did start talking about it, the attention would shift to migrants ...

Not very politically correct to talk about it. There are lots of diseases like that these days.

Yes, the TB does scare me. Gain of function research scares me. Having an accident and being taken to an infected hospital scares me. But realistically just driving a car should scare me more.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

It looks like cases have been around for a while

Get the Facts About <em>Candida auris (C. auris)</em>

It also looks like there was a time when these infections were more treatable with the 3 classes of anti-fungal drugs

Candida Auris

Should you worry about a Candida auris infection? Find out the causes and who’s at risk.

my.clevelandclinic.org

But as the OP article mentions, a few strains are becoming resistant.

However, I don't know if it's clear whether or not the resistance is stemming from they refer to as "phylogenetic relationships" with other strains that were already resistant, or if misuse of the drugs in the past had a hand in creating more resistance.


The silver lining is that it would seem there's some promising ongoing research into the matter involving using adjunct drugs along side the traditional anti-fungal drugs.

Antifungal Resistance in Candida auris: Molecular Determinants

Since Candida auris integrates strains resistant to multiple antifungals, research has been conducted focused on knowing which molecular mechanisms are involved. This review aims to summarize the results obtained in some of these studies. A search was ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov