A rare and dangerous fungal infection has been spreading across the United States in recent years — and a primary theory is that climate change is driving its rapid rise.
The Wikipedia article is perhaps more helpful than the news story.
Fungi are much closer to animals in evolutionary terms than bacteria. Many substances which effectively kill fungi are harmful to animals, including humans. Antibacterial antibiotics are mostly useless. There exist antifungal antibiotics, but their selection is limited. Vaccination is possible, but not yet feasible in people. A mouse has been successfully vaccinated against Candida auris and gained some protection.
Fungal diseases are generally slower compared to viral (very fast) and bacterial (fast) diseases, but harder to wipe out.
This fungus is generally a threat in hospitals, where people with compromised immune systems and open wounds may be encountered. A description of a Candida outbreak in a medical setting can be found here. It broke out in the intensive care unit of a London hospital. Many patients had wounds, catheters or intravenous lines. They resorted to isolating every patient, disinfecting rooms with agressive substances, using plentiful chrorhexidine to prevent infection via wounds and lines, and antifungals to treat patients.
Nobody died at the Royal Brompton Hospital, but the mess was severe.
Next year, the US CDC described it as a “catastrophic threat”. Antifungals that target Candida with less side effects, and a vaccine against it, are highly sought after. I trust they will be found, but not soon - this is not COVID, it spread slowly, so everyone isn’t running to put a lid on it.
The Wikipedia article is perhaps more helpful than the news story.
Fungi are much closer to animals in evolutionary terms than bacteria. Many substances which effectively kill fungi are harmful to animals, including humans. Antibacterial antibiotics are mostly useless. There exist antifungal antibiotics, but their selection is limited. Vaccination is possible, but not yet feasible in people. A mouse has been successfully vaccinated against Candida auris and gained some protection.
Fungal diseases are generally slower compared to viral (very fast) and bacterial (fast) diseases, but harder to wipe out.
This fungus is generally a threat in hospitals, where people with compromised immune systems and open wounds may be encountered. A description of a Candida outbreak in a medical setting can be found here. It broke out in the intensive care unit of a London hospital. Many patients had wounds, catheters or intravenous lines. They resorted to isolating every patient, disinfecting rooms with agressive substances, using plentiful chrorhexidine to prevent infection via wounds and lines, and antifungals to treat patients.
Nobody died at the Royal Brompton Hospital, but the mess was severe.
Next year, the US CDC described it as a “catastrophic threat”. Antifungals that target Candida with less side effects, and a vaccine against it, are highly sought after. I trust they will be found, but not soon - this is not COVID, it spread slowly, so everyone isn’t running to put a lid on it.