Candida auris: another frontier in the battle against antimicrobial resistance

Recently there has been increased news coverage of a drug resistant fungus infecting patients across the US.1 This is the well known Candida auris. It was first isolated from a patient’s ear canal in 20092—hence the Latin name auris. Given the pathogen’s rapid transmission and outbreak potential, public health officials and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have declared C auris a “serious threat to human health” and the World Health Organization has added it to its fungal priority pathogen list. 3Cases of C auris infection in the US have tripled, with a 44% increase in 2019 to a 95% increase in 2021.4 The yeast is usually harmless, but in unhealthy patients the pathogen opportunistically infects wounds and the ear canal, and causes dangerous bloodstream infection.5 Certain strains of C auris can resist the three main antifungal drugs used to clear infection: polyenes, azoles, and echinocandins.6 Thus, for…
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