Drug-resistant fungus Candida auris found in Erie County health care facility
A drug-resistant, life-threatening fungus that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention calls an urgent threat has spread to Erie County.
Candida auris, known as C. auris, has been found in a patient at a health care facility in the county, the Pennsylvania Department of Health said in a health alert issued Friday. It is the first C. auris case to be detected in all of northwestern Pennsylvania.
State Health Department officials would not identify the health care facility where the C. auris case was found, or the patient's identity or medical condition, due to patient privacy laws.
They did say the case was reported in 2022. Erie County did not have any C. auris cases in an earlier health alert issued in August.
Almost all of the state's cases have been reported at skilled nursing facilities and hospitals, according to the health alert.
"Candida auris infection cases occur almost exclusively in patients with high medical needs within a health care setting, such as patients who need ventilators, central lines and antibiotics, or other patients who have high risk factors for disease acquisition," said Mark O'Neill, State Health Department spokesman. "People in the community are highly unlikely to get the fungal disease."
Since its discovery in 2009, cases of C. auris have risen significantly. About 200 cases have been detected in Pennsylvania, most of them in the southeastern part of the state.
C. auris spreads through person-to-person contact or contact with a contaminated surface or piece of equipment.
"Candida auris is a yeast and this particular yeast does well on those surfaces," said Dr. Graham Snyder, UPMC's medical director of infection control. "So the focus is on cleaning and hand hygiene to prevent its spread."
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Some carry C. auris on their skin and never get infected
Outbreaks have been reported at health care facilities across the country. While some people carry C. auris on their skin and never get sick, others develop life-threatening infections.
Those who develop invasive infections have a mortality rate of 30% to 60%. One reason the rate is so high is that many of them had other serious illnesses at the time of infection, according to the health alert.
Two types of patients tend to develop these invasive infections, Synder said.
"One type is the patient who has a medical condition that affects their immune system, so they are more likely to develop an infection if they come into contact with it," Snyder said. "Another is a patient who requires a ventilator, or multiple IV tubes, or otherwise has many close encounters with health care personnel."
Not only does C. auris affect the sickest patients, it also is resistant to several of the common antifungal drugs used to treat infections.
"We have three main classes of drugs used to treat fungal infections. C. auris is highly resistant to the main class and we're seeing some resistance to other classes," said Brandon Sing, a LECOM Health infectious diseases pharmacist. "That's why preventing infections is so important."
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Patients with C. auris are placed in isolation and protocols are put into place to prevent cross contamination, Snyder said. They include having all medical personnel wear personal protective equipment when caring for the patient, then discarding all of it when leaving the room.
Still, it's likely that cases of C. auris will continue to spread.
"Right now, Candida auris isn't found in all health care facilities. Some have cases and many do not," Snyder said. "I suspect they all will have them over time."
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Contact David Bruce at dbruce@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Candida auris, drug-resistant fungus, found in Erie County facility
