CDC: Facilities Should Be on the Alert for Multidrug-Resistant Yeast with Outbreak Potential

June 29, 2016 | Strategic Insights for Health System

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​A multidrug-resistant yeast with high potential to cause outbreaks in healthcare facilities is causing healthcare-associated infections on four continents, according to a Clinical Alert to U.S. Healthcare Facilities released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 24, 2016. Treatment options are severely limited for some strains of Candida auris, CDC said, because of elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations to the major classes of antifungals. C. auris has been found in nine countries since 2009, and CDC said it is aware of one isolate detected in the United States in 2013. It is unknown why the yeast has recently emerged in so many locations, and CDC is alerting U.S. healthcare facilities to be on the lookout for C. auris in patients. C. auris infections have most commonly been hospital acquired, CDC said, and occur several weeks into a patient's stay. At least two countries have described healthcare outbreaks of the infection, CDC said, with each instance involving colonization of more than 30 patients.

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