This fungus is deadly, hard to detect, difficult to cure, and spreading nationwide

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Viruses, bacteria, and fungi are always around but one particular fungus has the medical community concerned. The Candida Auris fungus has a high mortality rate and has infected dozens of people in Louisiana.

“This passes typically in one or two ways, either person-to-person or contaminated surfaces that somebody touches and then they touch themselves or the surface is contaminated and it’s placed on the patient’s body or the individuals’ body and that’s how it’s transmitted from person-to-person,” said Dr. Fred Lopez, an infectious diseases specialist at LSU Health New Orleans

The Louisiana Department of Health says there are 50 known cases of the fungal infection in the state. Nationwide, the fungus is spreading at an alarming rate says LDH and is called an “urgent public health threat” for high-risk patients, with a 30% to 60% case fatality rate in the U.S.

Symptoms of the infection vary depending on the location of the infection, with some people showing no symptoms at all and only being “colonized” by the fungus.

“The symptoms depend on where the infection is located. If it’s a wound infection it’s going to be maybe some pus around the wound, but when it gets in the bloodstream that’s when people might develop fever, for example, they might get light-headed, they might feel their heart racing,” he said.

Still, doctors say no one should panic.

“People whose immune systems work well really don’t need to worry too much about this fungus but it is out there, it’s worldwide,” said Lopez.

LDH says healthcare transmission accounts for most of the cases of this fungal infection. Patients with compromised immune systems or medical problems, such as tubes or catheters in their bodies, are particularly vulnerable to invasive infection with Candida Auris.

“People who tend to get invasive infection with Candida Auris - this yeast that we’re hearing about - increasingly tend to be people who have many other medical problems. They might have tubes coming into the veins or feeding tubes, catheters in their bodies, they may be immuno-suppressed for other reasons,” said Lopez.

While some labs have the capability to accurately identify this organism, the fungus has been misidentified in some cases, making it hard to detect in patients.

“It is hard to detect. It has been misidentified in the lab although many labs have the capability to accurately identify this fungus,” said Lopez.

But he says locally, some labs have identified the fungus.

“I know many labs have the capability of identifying this organism and as we go increasingly looking for it that’s also part of the reason, we’re probably identifying more cases of Candida Auris,” said Lopez.

Despite the alarming spread of this fungus, Dr. Lopez advises that people with healthy immune systems should not worry too much about it, although LDH stresses the importance of screenings for “colonization” in order to prevent the spread of the fungus to more vulnerable populations.

“They’re not infected, it’s not in their bloodstream, it’s not causing an active infection, they’re just colonized with it but it’s a problem because they can then pass it on to more vulnerable patient populations,” said Lopez.

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