The number of Candida auris cases rises to 6; what is super mushroom?

The State Department of Health (SES) confirmed two more cases of the superfungus Candida auris in Pernambuco on Tuesday (30). With the notifications, the total number of people infected in the state in 2023 rose to 6.

According to SES the two new patients, a 70-year-old woman and a 51-year-old man, did not show up”clinical repercussions deriving from the fungus”. The woman was hospitalized for nine days and has already been discharged from the Miguel Arraes Hospital, in Paulista, the man is still in the Tricentenário Hospital, in Olinda, due to a history of stroke.

Importantly, even after discharge from the hospital, the patient can remain colonized (with the virus in the body, but without symptoms) for about three to six months.

SES of Pernambuco in note.

What is Candida auris and why is it called a super mushroom?

Candida auris is an emerging fungus that poses a serious threat to public health due to the microorganism’s ability to resist major antifungal drugs. In other words, it has shown a strong resistance to treatments, which is why it has received the nomenclature of super mushroom, which is recognized by the scientific community.

It was first identified in Japan in 2009 in a case of otomycosis, an opportunistic fungal infection of the external auditory canal. It has since spread to every continent except Antarctica. It arrived in Brazil in 2020, in a man hospitalized for covid-19 – which enhanced the alert against the disease and the fungus.

In general, there is no clinical manifestation of the presence of the superfungus in the colonized patient. However, an injury, a skin break, or the use of a catheter in the hospital can allow it to enter the body and reach potentially harmful current organs such as the heart and brain, in severe cases, which immunocompromised people are more prone to. exposed. susceptible. , a generalized infection can lead to death (sepsis).

According to information from CNN, Brazil has since March 2017 a document with guidelines on how health services should proceed to prevent and control the spread of the fungus, mainly due to the risk of infection within the hospital itself.

It is not the first time that Brazil has faced an outbreak of Candida auris. Between 2021 and 2022, Recife recorded the highest number of cases in the country, with 48 notifications. There is still no evidence that the new records are linked to cases that occurred in previous years.

Among the main preventive measures is hand hygiene, as well as the cleaning of hospital surfaces or any other that may have come into contact with infected material.

With information from G1 and CNN

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Source: Olhar Digital