CDC Is Sounding the Alarm Over a ‘New’ Resistant Fungal Infection Sweeping Across the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deemed Candida auris to be an emerging “urgent antimicrobial resistance (AR) threat” in the United States, owing to an alarming increase in cases—including cases that are resistant to echinocandins and other antifungal drugs. Echinocandin-resistant cases have tripled since 2021. A CDC announcement notes that C auris infection is most likely to occur in healthcare facilities and among patients with invasive medical devices. As such, urgent care providers should be vigilant for recently hospitalized patients who present with chills and fever that do not improve with antibiotic treatment for presumed bacterial infection. Cases have occurred in 28 states and the District of Columbia, with California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Texas reporting cases in the hundreds.