Deadly fungus warning as cases spike, prompting Last of Us fears

An emerging life-threatening fungus is now being considered an urgent global threat after clinical cases of its infections were found to have nearly doubled in the US.

While it might sound similar to the ominous premise for apocalyptic hit series The Last of US, this very real health crisis is continuing to grow, with the number of human infections found to be resistant to treatment also tripling.

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The grim figures come as Australia grapples with its own separate fungus emergency on one of its most pristine eco-tourism destinations.

The fungus wreaking havoc across the US, Candida auris, is capable of causing a blood stream infection called fungaemia which has a 59 per cent mortality rate, according to SA Health. It can also cause otitis media, meningitis, osteomyelitis, peritonitis, pericarditis and UTIs.

More worryingly, Candida auris is now being considered an urgent global threat because of its increasing resistance to first-line treatment echinocandins. Its infections have already reported in over 30 countries, including Australia.

Yale School of Medicine infectious disease specialist Dr Scott Roberts said that once the fungus is on a patient it can “colonise” on them for years “if not their life”.

“Once you have been found to have Candida auris you will always be considered to have Candida auris, and will always need to take extra precautions when you are admitted to a Healthcare facility,” according to Better Health Victoria.

A person colonised with the fungus can spread it to vulnerable people — and that’s where it gets even more dangerous.

Unlike other fungi that are typically acquired from the environment, Candida auris is easily spread from person to person, as well as via shared objects, and has proven resistant to some common disinfectants.

“Once it sets up shop, in a nursing home for example, it’s almost impossible to eradicate,” Roberts said.

It uses lines and tubes, such as breathing tubes and catheters, to enter the body, putting patients in ICU, aged care facilities, and those who have undergone recent surgeries, or require long stays in hospital, at the highest risk.

Controlling the spread of Candida auris

The Candida auris research, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, evaluated cases of the fungus reported to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2016 — the year in which cases were first reported in the US — to 2021.

The study authors found that clinical cases increased each year, rising from 53 in 2016 to 330 in 2018 and then skyrocketing from 476 in 2019 to 1,471 in 2021.

Cases of Candida auris have also expanded geographically.

Although it was initially confined mostly to the New York City and Chicago areas, Candida auris is now present in more than half of all US states. Between 2019 and 2021, 17 states identified their first cases.

Transmission of the Candida auris fungus within the US is largely driven by “poor general infection prevention and control practices in healthcare facilities,” the authors of the new study say.

The researchers wrote that the timing of this increased spread suggests that it may have been exacerbated by “pandemic-related strain on the health care and public health system.”