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While a mutant fungus in the real world might not be making humans violent and turning them against each other as in the fictional world of "The Last of Us," it is raising alarm bells for public health.
Candidozyma auris is a yeast that can cause invasive infections and has been flagged in World Health Organization lists as a top-priority threat, as it spreads easily in hospitals. This notorious fungus survives for long periods on surfaces and often resists major classes of antifungal medications used to treat fungal infections.
A recent study uncovered an extremely rare fungal strain that can withstand all four major classes of antifungal drugs—azoles, echinocandins, polyenes and flucytosine.
Researchers isolated the pan-drug-resistant strain from a 28-year-old patient who developed a surgical wound infection while hospitalized in Nairobi, Kenya. This is the first time a pan-drug-resistant strain of the fungus has been identified in Africa and only the second documented case worldwide. The first case was reported in New York.
Genetic testing traced the fungus to a lineage already circulating in Kenya and identified a specific combination of drug-resistance mutations that could explain why the antifungal medicines failed.
S. alone. Unlike other Candida species, C. auris spreads easily in hospitals, causing outbreaks and serious invasive infections with 30%–50% mortality in some patient groups.
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