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Fungus-Candida auris
Why is it in news?
- Recently C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, leading the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add it to a list of germs deemed “urgent threats.”
- Over the past five years, it has hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, swept through a hospital in Spain, forced a prestigious British medical centre to shut down its intensive care unit, and taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa.
More in news
- Targeting weakened immune systems: The germ, a fungus called Candida auris , preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe.
- Case study: The man at Mount Sinai died after 90 days in the hospital, but C. auris did not. Tests showed it was everywhere in his room, so invasive that the hospital needed special cleaning equipment and had to rip out some of the ceiling and floor tiles to eradicate it.
- Drug-resistant infections:(1) C. auris is so tenacious because it is impervious to major antifungal medications.(2) This makes it a new example of one of the world’s most intractable health threats: the rise of drug-resistant infections.
- Repercussions of overuse of antibiotics: Overuse of antibiotics was reducing the effectiveness of drugs that have lengthened life spans by curing bacterial infections once commonly fatal.
- Increase in resistant fungi: There has been an explosion of resistant fungi as well with bacteria, adding a new and frightening dimension to a phenomenon that is undermining a pillar of modern medicine.
- Antibiotics and antifungals are both essential to combat infections in people, but antibiotics are also used widely to prevent disease in farm animals, and antifungals are also applied to prevent agricultural plants from rotting.
- Fungicides on crops-Reason for drug-resistant fungi: Some scientists cite evidence that rampant use of fungicides on crops is contributing to the surge in drug-resistant fungi infecting humans.
- Secrecy becoming problem:(1) It is little understood by the public because the very existence of resistant infections is often cloaked in secrecy.(2) With bacteria and fungi alike, hospitals and local governments are reluctant to disclose outbreaks for fear of being seen as infection hubs.
Source
The Hindu