Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

Deadly, Drug-Resistant Infection Showing up Around the United States

A drug-resistant germ that has hit the U.S. is being called a “creature from the black lagoon” by a CDC official who worries about its impact on frail Americans.

With an ever-increasing load of cases, the federal Centers for Disease Control has declared, “Candida auris is an emerging fungus that presents a serious global health threat.”

One of its top officials put the stakes in layman’s language.

“It is a creature from the black lagoon. It bubbled up and now it is everywhere.” Dr. Tom Chiller, who heads the CDC’s mycotic diseases branch, said.

The fungus can “persist on surfaces in healthcare environments. This can result in spread of C. auris between patients in healthcare facilities,” the CDC warned.

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Most cases in America “have been detected in the New York City area, New Jersey, and the Chicago area,” the CDC said, though cases have been reported in Texas, Oklahoma, California, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Massachusetts and Connecticut. The CDC said that as of February, 617 confirmed or probable cases of the fungus have been reported in the U.S.

“We’re very alarmed because some strains of C. auris in other countries are resistant to all three major classes of antifungal drugs, which we’ve never seen before,” Chiller said, according to Consumer Reports. “We’re taking as proactive and aggressive an approach as possible to try to keep it in check in the United States.”

Candida auris is a fungal infection that does not respond to antifungal medications, posing the same problem that excessive use of antibiotics has created in the growth and spread of anti-bacterial resistance. This is a looming threat to public health.

A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy
The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs.

The fungus attacks those who are weakest.

“We haven’t seen it in the general community. It’s mainly a hospital-acquired infection,” said Dr. Peter Pappas, a professor of medicine at the University of Alabama and spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

Chiller said C. auris has hit “the sickest of the sick — people who are in and out of ICUs and also have central lines or immune-system-lowering conditions such as diabetes.” Central lines are the intravenous tubes connected to provide patients with medication and fluids.

Cases of the fungus in America “are a result of inadvertent introduction into the United States from a patient who recently received healthcare in a country where C. auris has been reported or a result of local spread after such an introduction,” the CDC said.

A recent case at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital left hospital officials concerned because after the patient who suffered from the fungus died, they faced a totally unexpected problem, The New York Times reported. The fungus had spread throughout the room.

“Everything was positive — the walls, the bed, the doors, the curtains, the phones, the sink, the whiteboard, the poles, the pump,” said Dr. Scott Lorin, the hospital’s president. “The mattress, the bed rails, the canister holes, the window shades, the ceiling, everything in the room was positive.”

The drug-resistant fungus has wreaked havoc abroad. A neonatal unit in Venezuela has hit hard; and a British medical center closed its intensive care unit after the fungus invaded. The fungus has struck in Spain, South Africa, India and Pakistan as well. In the Spanish outbreak, 41 percent of those infected died within 30 days.

The CDC has estimated that overall, roughly half of those infected die within 90 days.

Candida auris is the leading story in NYT today: good to see extensive media coverage of antimicrobial resistant organisms, the most serious and quiet global public health threat we face.

A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy
The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs.

The fungus is feared because nothing in the current arsenal of drugs used to treat such diseases can k**l it.

“It’s an enormous problem. We depend on being able to treat those patients with antifungals,” Matthew Fisher, a professor of fungal epidemiology at Imperial College London, said.

C. auris is the top threat among resistant infections, Dr. Lynn Sosa, Connecticut’s deputy state epidemiologist, said.

“It’s pretty much unbeatable and difficult to identity,” she said.

Some link the rise of drug-resistant bacteria and fungi to the use of pesticides.

Interestingly, multi drug resistant Candida Auris appears to have arisen as a result of anti-fungal pesticides used for commercial agriculture. As we apply more pressure on #anthropocene era planet 🌍 you can expect more and more of these resistant bugs to arise. 2/

Outbreaks are often kept quiet by hospitals that do not want to be seen as centers of infection. That frustrates those who want the public informed. In the case of Royal Brompton Hospital in London, the initial 2015 outbreak was kept under wraps for months.

“Why the heck are we reading about an outbreak almost a year and a half later — and not have it front-page news the day after it happens?” Dr. Kevin Kavanagh of Kentucky, who chairs the patient advocacy group Health Watch USA, said. “You wouldn’t tolerate this at a restaurant with a food poisoning outbreak.”

https://www.westernjournal.com/deadly-drug-resistant-infection-showing-around-united-states/?ff_source=Email&ff_medium=patriottribune&ff_campaign=dailyam&ff_content=libertyalliance

Carol Kelly

Look for more of this in the near future, not just this particular thing but others that haven’t been seen in centuries. I wouldn’t be surprised at an outbreak of the Black Plague or should I say brown plague. The “imaginary” crisis at the border could develop into a lot of “manufactured” epidemics.

bahmer

Amen and Amen spot on with that Carol.

Oldsailor65 Loc: Iowa

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Instead of a "Green New Deal" what we have is a "Brown New Deal"!!

bahmer

Both brought to us by the democrat party as well and they want us to v**e for them when they are trying to k**l us. No thanks Dems.

Iliamna1

With all the 'bugs' lurking out there to infect us, there are some things that we can do to protect ourselves.
Simple frequent hand washing heads the list. Take a pair of cheap, disposable rubber gloves to the grocery store and never put your bare hands on the handles of grocery store carts: wear gloves.
There are things people can use in their homes to eliminate bacteria, v***ses and fungi. There are steam cleaners which are also helpful in getting rid of bed bug infestations from bedroom mattresses and carpets. Lysol disinfectants are a help. A simple bleach solution (aka Dakin's) solution can be used to clean surfaces and you can make your own very cheaply, The instructions are on the internet. That stuff k**ls everything and can even be used to clean infected open wounds. Apple cider vinegar is also a good disinfectant and is usually diluted to one part vinegar to 5 or 6 parts water.

waltmoreno

I've learned that instead of bleach which is toxic to humans, hydrogen peroxide is highly preferable to cleaning surfaces or even wounds.

Kevyn

I have bad news for you the disease doesn't come from brown people it is coming from the misuse of chemical anti fungal sprays on large corporate farms. Its root cause is a lack of government regulations and enforcement.

Iliamna1

Actually. on this bug, Kevyn is right (for a change). Having said that, there are some many other 'bugs' out there, especially coming over with the immigrants. There's the new flu, ostensibly brought in by the Honduran s, there's measles closing down schools as there are many unv******ted children where the outbreak is occurring. We now have an outbreak of typhus in southern California.

Carol Kelly

Tragic isn’t it? To think this is what we’ve come to in little over 200 yrs. I don’t wish them well.

Carol Kelly

Tuberculosis is on the rise and AIDS is reading its ugly head. These are gifts we don’t need. There’s more to come! Break out the iron lungs, here comes polio.

Iliamna1

Actually, there is a new form of polio breaking out in the northeast. Scary stuff.