First cases of drug-resistant Candida auris reported in U.S.: CDC

Thirteen cases of Candida auris, a serious and sometimes fatal fungal infection, have been reported in the United States for the first time, the country's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Friday.

Candida auris is often resistant to antifungal drugs and can easily be misidentified as another type of Candida infection. In June 2016, the U.S. CDC issued a clinical alert describing the global emergence of Candida auris.

Seven of the 13 cases, described Friday in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, occurred between May 2013 and August 2016 in four U.S. states: New York, Illinois, Maryland and New Jersey.

The other six cases were identified after August 2016 and are still under investigation, the CDC said.

All of the first seven patients had serious underlying medical conditions and had been hospitalized an average of 18 days when Candida auris was identified, said the CDC.

Four of these patients died, but it is unclear whether the deaths were associated with Candida auris infection or underlying health conditions, it said.

In two instances, two patients had been treated in the same hospital or long-term-care facility and had nearly identical fungal strains, suggesting that Candida auris could be spread in healthcare settings, the U.S. health agency said.

In addition, a total of 71 percent of the Candida auris strains from the first seven U.S. patients showed some drug resistance, making treatment more difficult, the CDC said.

Samples of Candida auris strains from other countries have been found to be resistant to all three major classes of antifungal medications, but none of the U.S. strains in this report were resistant to all three antifungal drug classes, it noted.

Lab testing showed the U.S. strains were related to strains from South Asia and South America, but none of the patients travelled to or had any direct links to those regions, leading the CDC to believe most patients likely acquired the infections locally.

"We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus," CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a statement. "This is an emerging threat, and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others."

Candida auris was first described in 2009 after being isolated from external ear canal discharge of a patient in Japan.

Since then, Candida auris infections, including bloodstream infections, have been reported from at least a dozen countries, including Colombia, India, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Pakistan, South Africa, South Korea, Venezuela, and the United Kingdom. Enditem