Candida auris

Multidrug-resistant Candida species first detected in Japan in 2009 in the ear swab (C. auris) of a 70-year-old woman.

Candida auris can be detected in the external auditory tract, in the urinary and respiratory tract, also vulvovaginally and on wounds.
In the USA, 13 cases of the potentially fatal fungal infection with Candida auris have been reported. Candida auris has now been found in patients in South Korea, India, South Africa, Kuwait, Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan, the UK, France and Germany.

If C. auris enters the bloodstream, the infection can become life-threatening due to resistance to the usual antifungal drugs.
Infection - immunodeficient patients (especially those infected with HIV) and patients in intensive care units are particularly at risk.

1. Calvo B et l. (2016) First report of Candida auris in America: Clinical and microbiological aspects of 18 episodes of candidemia. J Infect 73:369-374.
2. Chowdhary A et al (2014) Multidrug-resistant endemic clonal strain of Candida auris in India. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 33:919-926.
3. Kathuria S et al (2015) Multidrug-resistant Candida auris Misidentified as Candida haemulonii: Characterization by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry and DNA Sequencing and Its Antifungal Susceptibility Profile Variability by Vitek 2, CLSI Broth Microdilution, and Etest Method. J Clin Microbiol 53:1823-1830.
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25809970KumarD et al. (2015) Itraconazole-resistant Candida auris with phospholipase, proteinase and hemolysin activity from a case of vulvovaginitis J Infect Dev Ctries 9:435-437.
5. Satoh K et al (2009) Candida auris sp. nov., a novel ascomycetous yeast isolated from the external ear canal of an inpatient in a Japanese hospital. Microbiol Immunol 53:41-44.
6. Schelenz S et al (2016) First hospitaloutbreak of the globally emerging Candida auris in a European hospital. Antimicrob Resist Infect Control 5:35.
7. Vallabhaneni S et al. (2017) Investigation of the First Seven Reported Cases of Candida auris, a Globally Emerging Invasive, Multidrug Resistant Fungus-United States, May 2013-August 2016. At J Transplant 17:296-299.
8. Vallabhaneni S et al (2013) Investigation of the First Seven Reported Cases of Candida auris, a Globally Emerging Invasive, Multidrug-Resistant Fungus-United States, May 2013-August 2016; MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 65:1234-1237 .