New Killer Fungus Found in U.S. Patients

A newly identified fungus that can kill very sick patients has been found in U.S. hospitals and has probably been here for a few years, federal health officials reported Friday.

It’s infected at least 13 people, including four who died.

The yeast is called Candida auris and was first identified in 2009 in a Japanese patient with an ear infection.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation spotlights stringent New York state laws that have long drawn criticism

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThe debate over AI’s future rages on both coasts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDecades-old march dispute reignites in Northern Ireland, threatening political crisis

Since then, it’s been found in a handful of countries around the world. In June, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked doctors to look for it.

They found 13 cases over the summer, the CDC reports.

Some strains of the fungus resist all the classes of antifungal drugs used to fight it. The CDC described seven cases in detail that could be treated with antifungals, although they all resisted at least one class of the drugs.

“Five of seven isolates were resistant to fluconazole; one of these isolates was resistant to amphotericin B, and another isolate was resistant to echinocandins. No isolate was resistant to all three classes of antifungal medications,” the CDC team wrote in the report released Friday.

“It appears that C. auris arrived in the United States only in the past few years,” said Dr. Tom Chiller, who heads the CDC branch that deals with fungal diseases.

“We’re working hard with partners to better understand this fungus and how it spreads so we can improve infection control recommendations and help protect people.”

All of the patients described in the CDC report were already very sick. One is a paraplegic patient in Illinois whose catheter was infected and who remained infected even after treatment.

Four patients in New York, New Jersey and Maryland died, although the CDC team says it’s not clear if the fungal infection played a role. One had a brain tumor, two had blood cancers and one had respiratory failure.

The fungus can be found throughout the body and on the skin, the CDC said.

“Five patients had C. auris initially isolated from blood, one from urine, and one from the external ear canal,” the team wrote in the report.

In some cases, the infections appeared related — some of the patients had been in the same hospital together or one right after another, and genetic sequencing showed the Candida strains were close.

The strain found in the four patients who died was related to a strain seen in South Asia, the CDC said.

“Isolates from the two Illinois patients were nearly identical and were most closely related to isolates from South America,” the team wrote.

Swabs of the hospital room of one patient found the fungus in the mattress, bedside table, bed rail, chair, and window sill. But bleach killed it. “C. auris was not detected in this patient’s hospital room after terminal cleaning with sodium hypochlorite solution and ultraviolet light,” the CDC wrote.

The CDC recommends thoroughly cleaning the hospital rooms where the fungus is found, and warning facilities if a patient being transferred has been infected.

“We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus,” said CDC director Dr. Tom Frieden. “This is an emerging threat, and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others.”