Transmission of Pan-Resistant and Echinocandin-Resistant Candida auris in Health Care Facilities

Angie SzumlinskiHealth, Studies

Candida auris is an emerging, often multidrug-resistant yeast that is highly transmissible, resulting in health care-associated outbreaks, especially in long-term care facilities. Skin colonization with C. auris allows spread and leads to invasive infections, including bloodstream infections, in 5%–10% of colonized patients.

Pan-resistant C. auris isolates have been reported previously, although rarely, from the United States (4) and other countries (5). Three pan-resistant C. auris cases reported in New York developed resistance following echinocandin treatment and lacked epidemiologic links or common health care (4), suggesting that resistance resulted from antifungal pressure rather than via person-to-person transmission. Since January 2021, however, the Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network has detected independent clusters of pan-resistant or echinocandin-resistant cases in Texas and the District of Columbia (DC). Each cluster involved common health care encounters and no known previous echinocandin exposure, suggesting transmission of pan- and echinocandin-resistant strains for the first time in the United States.

You can read more on the CDC website:

Lyman M, Forsberg K, Reuben J, et al. Notes from the Field: Transmission of Pan-Resistant and Echinocandin-Resistant Candida auris in Health Care Facilities ― Texas and the District of Columbia, January–April 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:1022–1023. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7029a2external icon