A drug-resistant superbug dubbed an “urgent” threat by health officials has spread across nearly two dozen US states — and its highly generic symptoms that make it difficult to spot.
The deadly fungus, known as Candida auris, has been reported in 23 states with more than 3,000 cases so far this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control — mostly in nursing homes and hospitals.
“The rapid emergence around the world and the speed of spread in the U.S. is alarming,” Susan Huang, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of California Irvine School of Medicine, told Healthline.com.
“The public should definitely be aware of this concern and how it may impact them or those they care about.”
The superbug — which is estimated to have caused death in up to 60% people infected by it— is a type of yeast that enters the bloodstream and spreads throughout the body.
It has strains resistant to all types of medications, and has been labeled an “urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” by the CDC.
Symptoms depend on where the infection is located but tend to include chills, fever, fatigue — common complaints that can throw off doctors.
Other symptoms include low body temperature and high heart rate, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Texas has had the most cases of the fungus this year with 706, followed by Michigan with 503, and Illinois with 366, according to the most recent available CDC data, released last month.
None were reported this year in New York, but 166 cases were found in New Jersey.
People in hospitals and other health care settings face the highest risk of becoming infected, health officials said.
The fungus is believed to be able to survive on surfaces for weeks at a time before spreading to people in medical facilities through IVs and breathing tubes.
“[It’s] is a growing problem among chronically ill persons in nursing homes and hospitals. It is not a problem among the general public,” William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, told Healthline.com
“Identifying infected patients and caring for them in an isolation room is also important to curtail spread,” he said.
Researchers have estimated estimated that 30–60% of people with Candida auris illnesses have died, though many of them also had other sicknesses that increased their risk of fatality.
People with healthy immune systems don’t tend to get sick from the fungus, but can transmit it to others. An infected person may be able to transmit the disease up to several months after they’ve recovered from the illness.
The fungus was identified in Japan in 2009 and was first reported in the United States in 2016.
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