By Andrea Hargraves 
USP Journal
In the United States, there is an exponential growth of cases that can lead to death from fungal contamination Candida auris. Although it is found worldwide, the situation in the United States is worrying because, according to a report from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the numbers rose from 756 to 1,471 infected people in 2021.
“Candida is the name of the fungus, it is present in the body and is part of the colonizing flora: it is carried by everyone in the body, whether in the digestive tract, the intestine or the skin, it is the flora of the body”, explains Max Igor Banks, infection specialist in charge of the Reinfection Laboratory at Das Hospital Clinicas of the University of the South Pacific College of Medicine.
“In some cases of imbalance, especially when you have associated diseases, surgeries, catheters and intubations, invasive things, it can allow these bacteria and fungi that live in the body to go from a colonizing state to an invasive state,” the specialist comments.
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| There is not yet The relationship between Covid-19 f expand on Candida auris |
It is common to hear that the use of antibiotics constantly strengthens bacteria, viruses, and fungi. In case Candida auristhis is no different, however, this species is already quite resistant.
“What was troubling about this fungus was that, until then, there was no drug-resistant Candida species like this one. We have three main types of drugs to treat this, and they are generally resistant to all three. This lit a warning signal in the world.” , says the infection scientist. The lethality of this fungus can reach 60% of cases of infection.
monitoring
Banks points out who the most sensitive people are: “It’s important for people to realize that this is just a spectrum of the situation. There’s a concern that there is a risk in a very specific situation: who is in hospital, who has many illnesses, who needs very extensive medical support and who is exposed under pressure to treat many infections. Then it will start to create a condition for the emergence of this fungus, but even so, it must be present in humans and not everyone carries it.” Thus, it is necessary to understand the real existence of these fungi, but this is not easy.
“Hospitals, to be able to identify people who carry this fungus, invest a lot. There is something called surveillance, you have to look if this fungus is out there. Generally, you can do that by trying to find the fungus in the armpits, the groin, the skin and even In the rectum or the mouth itself: places where fungi can live, ”says the doctor.
He adds, however, that this requires spending on technology to distinguish, for example, types of haloes from whites, which are a normal part of the human flora, as well as constant monitoring, since a person may not have the fungus and be contaminated in the environment. the hospital.
There is still no concrete relationship between the impact of Covid-19 and the presence of the fungus Candida auris, but Banks offers some possible links: “Something very different with Covid is that there are a large number of people in the hospital in an ICU state. So, these are the people who “They are very weak and have extensive use of antibiotics. All of this may have somehow led to an increase in this fungus within hospitals.”
Banks reports that three outbreaks have been detected in Brazil, and they have been eradicated.