Drug-Resistant Fungus Named a Major Global Health Threat Is Spreading Fast

A drug-resistant fungus described by health experts as among the “greatest threats to public health” is spreading rapidly in the United States, officials have cautioned.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that cases of Candida auris rose sharply in U.S. hospitals between 2022 and 2024, putting thousands of medically fragile patients, particularly those with weakened immune systems, at greater risk.

Based on samples collected from health care facilities, officials identified 13,507 Candida auris cases nationwide during that three-year period.

Reported cases climbed from 2,882 in 2022 to 4,428 in 2023, a 54 percent increase. The total rose again in 2024, reaching 6,197 cases — up 40 percent from the previous year.

Over the same period, the CDC also received reports of 27,853 screening cases, referring to patients who tested positive for the fungus but did not show signs of an active infection.

Those screening cases also increased steadily, rising from 6,226 in 2022 to 9,195 in 2023 and then to 12,432 in 2024.

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Thursday, the CDC said cases recorded in 2022 were 96 percent higher than in 2021, a jump that may be linked to “strains on health care systems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” including supply and staffing shortages as well as overcrowding.

Patients seriously ill with COVID-19 were also more likely to require ventilators and other complex medical devices, equipment on which Candida auris and similar fungi have been shown to grow and spread.

The World Health Organization has previously listed Candida auris on its list of the 19 fungi that represent ‘the greatest threats to public health.’ The organization named Candida auris as part of its critical priority group, meaning it needs immediate research to identify treatments.

This is because the fungus is resistant to many medications, making it harder to treat and able to more easily spread around medical facilities, where patients are often immunocompromised and more vulnerable to severe infection.

Symptoms depend on the source of the infection – blood, wounds or inside the ears – but can mimic more benign conditions like the flu. 

When Candida auris spreads to the bloodstream, patients may experience fever and chills, extreme tiredness, low blood pressure and high heart rate. The fungus quickly multiplies in the bloodstream, triggering sepsis, a severe overreaction that causes the immune system to attack otherwise healthy organs and tissues.

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Sepsis is responsible for one in three US hospital deaths, killing 350,000 Americans every year, or one every 90 seconds. 

The CDC report found about 30 percent of positive Candida auris samples were taken from blood. 

In wounds or the ear, Candida auris may cause redness, warmth, pain, pus and drainage. 

The mortality rate for Candida auris ranges from 30 to 70 percent overall, and about 47 percent of patients die if the fungus infiltrates their bloodstream. 

The CDC also notes detected cases of Candida auris from 2022 to 2024 were mostly in men over age 45, and the highest concentration – 28.5 percent – were in the western US. Additionally, 21.3 percent were in the Midwest and 20.2 percent were in the Southeast, with the remainder elsewhere in the country. 

According to separate CDC data updated in March, the majority of cases in 2024 – 961 – were in California, followed by 719 in Texas, 690 in Nevada, 577 in Illinois and 544 in Florida. 

No cases were reported in Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Maine, Rhode Island, Alaska or Hawaii in 2024.

CDC officials said the increase in Candida auris ‘underscores ongoing transmission in health care settings and the importance of infection prevention and control efforts, with continued support from federal, state, and local public health partners to prevent further spread.’