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A concerning drug-resistant fungus continues to spread through American medical facilities, with new incidents reported in Georgia and Florida healthcare centers.

Candida auris, present in the United States since 2016, has shown a steady increase in cases each year through 2023, according to CDC data.

“We’ve had four people at one time on and off, over the past few months, and in years past, it was unusual to have one or even two people with Candida Auris in our hospital,” Dr. Timothy Connelly at Memorial Health in Savannah said, according to WJCL-TV.

The situation in Georgia appears particularly serious, with JoAnna Wagner from the Georgia Department of Public Health reporting over 1,300 cases through February.

The fungus typically spreads via invasive medical devices, including breathing tubes, feeding tubes, and catheters. What makes this pathogen especially dangerous is its resistance to standard sanitization methods.

“Many of the disinfectants that are EPA-registered and historically used by hospitals and medical facilities are not effective against C. Auris,” Wagner said.

The CDC’s renewed warnings come after designating Candida auris as “an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” in 2023.

“The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” Dr. Meghan Lyman, an epidemiologist with the CDC, said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The severity of the situation becomes clear through Melissa Nolan’s assessment. “If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own,” said Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, according to Nexstar.

Nolan explained the fungus’s resilient nature, stating, “It’s really good at just being, generally speaking, in the environment. So if you have it on a patient’s bed for example, on the railing, and you go to wipe everything down, if in whatever way maybe a couple of pathogens didn’t get cleared, then they’re becoming resistant. And so over time, they can kind of grow and populate in that hospital environment.”

The mortality rate is particularly alarming. The CDC estimates that between 30-60% of infected patients have died, though many had underlying serious conditions that increased their mortality risk.

“Most of the patients that get infections with Candida auris are themselves pretty sick to start with,” Stuart Cohen, chief of infectious diseases at UC Davis, said, according to the LA Times. “This is something that can push people over the edge and become life-threatening.”

Cohen emphasized the importance of infection prevention in healthcare settings. “The goal is, first and foremost, to keep the people in your hospital safe,” Cohen said. “When somebody comes in for a procedure, they’re not expecting to go home with a life-threatening illness or having spent time in an ICU from a hospital infection.”