New cases of Candida auris were reported in Louisiana and Oregon, raising concern over the spread of the potentially deadly fungal disease.
, which can be deadly, hard to clean, and resistant to treatment. The cases were the first in Louisiana, and came just a monthNirav Patel, chief medical officer of University Medical Center New Orleans, where the cases were reported, says that the fungus was spotted during general lab tests, which involved screening samples from patients for telltale proteins, including those produced by. “It’s a difficult-to-identify organism,” he says.
“This is different than COVID, where you need masks,” says Patel. “It’s making sure we maintain strict isolation, good hand hygiene, [and] environmental cleaning.” UMC, he noted, was already using cleaning products that had been tested onis not known to be an airborne pathogen, and transmission typically occurs through physical contact and spreads through the bloodstream. Butcases have become a rising threat during the pandemic. In a paper last fall, Shukla and colleagues.
Critically ill patients were treated with steroids for COVID-19, as well as antibiotics to control bacterial infections. It’s possible that the combination of drugs cleared out’s microbial competitors, leaving patients vulnerable to fungal infection?. The outbreak cleared as COVID cases declined and as the hospital implemented control measures, so it’s hard to judge cause-and-effect, Shukla says.