What is Candida auris? Experts: No need to panic, but also no need to underestimate

Recently, news about Candida auris has been spreading through various media at an "astonishing speed."

▲Photo source: China Changan Network Weibo

At present, Candida auris is mainly a hospital infection. Severely and critically ill hospitalized patients and people with weakened immunity are at risk of infection . People without chronic diseases and in good health do not need to panic.

1. What is Candida auris?

Candida auris, also known as Candida auris , is a fungus. It can invasively infect the human body, causing serious fungal infections . Candida auris is often resistant to antifungal drugs, which is why it has attracted much attention.

2. Why is Candida auris worth paying attention to?

Candida auris can cause serious infections

Candida auris can enter the infected person's bloodstream and spread throughout the body , causing serious invasive infections .

Candida auris is often multidrug resistant

This means that C. auris is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs commonly used to treat Candida infections, and some C. auris are resistant to all three conventional antifungal drugs .

Candida auris is becoming more common

Since it was first discovered in Japan in 2009, infections have been found in more than 30 countries and regions, including my country, with a reported mortality rate of 33% to 60%. In May 2018, my country reported its first case of Candida auris infection.

Candida auris is difficult to identify with routine laboratory tests

Before 2017 , due to limited knowledge about Candida auris, Candida auris was not included in the databases of most commonly used automated detection systems in laboratories, making it easy for it to be misidentified as other similar Candida species .

Currently, most manufacturers have updated their automated detection systems and added Candida auris data to the database. Clinical biochemistry and mass spectrometry identification will also gradually cover this new fungus.

Candida auris can be spread in hospitals and nursing homes

The Candida auris found in China does not have serious drug resistance, and there has been no large-scale concentrated outbreak in the country .

3. What should we know about Candida auris?

Who is most likely to get Candida auris infection?

Healthy people usually do not get infected with Candida auris . Candida auris mainly affects people who already have many underlying medical conditions .

People who have a weakened immune system due to illness, have been treated with large amounts of antibiotics, have catheters in place, or have had invasive medical procedures are more likely to get a C. auris infection and have serious consequences.

What are the symptoms of Candida auris infection?

Symptoms of a Candida auris infection may not be obvious because people with a Candida auris infection are often already in the hospital with another serious illness or condition . Symptoms of infection depend on the part of the body affected.

Candida auris can cause many different types of infections, such as infections of the blood, urinary system, surgical wounds, etc. At the same time, because the symptoms between infected people may vary greatly, laboratory tests are required to determine whether the patient has a Candida auris infection .

How to prevent Candida auris infection in daily life

The possibility of healthy people being infected with Candida auris is very low, so there is no need to panic . Prevention mainly lies in hand washing and disinfection . Candida auris exists in the blood or other body fluids of infected people, and can be isolated from the skin, urogenital tract, and respiratory tract of infected people, leading to invasive infections such as candida bacteremia, pericarditis, urinary tract infection, and pneumonia.

Healthy people should wash their hands with hand sanitizer or soap after contact with people infected with Candida auris . Objects or public areas used by infected people should be cleaned and disinfected in a timely manner. Generally speaking, people with Candida auris on their skin or other parts of their body or infected with Candida auris can leave the ward to participate in meals and group activities. They should pay attention to bandaging the wound to prevent the leakage of body fluids, and disinfect the objects and public equipment they have touched .

**4. ****** What should patients with Candida auris infection and their families know?

Will the infected person's family members be infected?

Healthy family members may have a low chance of contracting Candida auris . People with weakened immune systems, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses are at higher risk of contracting this fungus.

Should family members or other close contacts of infected people be tested for Candida auris?

In most cases, family members or other close contacts of people with C. auris infection are not tested for C. auris.

Can Candida auris infection be treated?

Most C. auris are susceptible to both polyenes and echinocandins . Some C. auris infections are resistant to all three major classes of antifungal drugs, making them difficult to treat. In such cases, multiple high-dose antifungal drugs may be needed to treat the infection.

Source: Li Dan, Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention

The picture comes from the Internet

Original title: "Candida auris: no need to panic but also no need to underestimate"