MOSCOW, March 21 – RIA Novosti. The dangerous, highly drug-resistant fungus Candida auris is spreading “at an alarming rate” in healthcare settings in the United States. area US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Candida auris was first described in a patient in Japan in 2009 and is now detected on five continents. An outbreak of this fungus occurred in UK hospitals in 2019, infecting 200 people and killing eight patients.

“The alarm was driven by a threefold increase in the number of resistant cases (fungal infection diseases) to echinocandin, the most recommended antifungal drug for the treatment of Candida auris infections in 2021…. Centers continue to see an increase in cases in 2022” – section stated on the website.

The fungus is not dangerous to healthy people. But it poses a risk to people in poor health, including patients on long-term treatment, according to the centers.

As the Washington Post notes, fungal diseases are very difficult to eradicate after admission to the hospital.

“These[fungal diseases]can continue to cause infections for a significant period of time … despite the best efforts of the infection control team,” said William Schaffner, MD, professor of medicine in the Department of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. it was quoted.

In 2021, an outbreak of Candida auris infection was detected in hospitals in Oregon, Texas, and Washington in the United States.