Oregon Logs First Cases Of Rare Fungal 'Superbug'; Health Authorities Investigating Outbreak

Oregon has logged its first cases of a rare fungal "superbug," Candida auris (C. auris). It is often hard to identify and resistant to multiple medicines.

C. auris, a type of yeast that can cause serious illness, has been detected in three Salem Health patients, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) noted in a news release Tuesday.

The first case was identified at Salem Hospital on Dec. 11 and confirmed on Dec. 17, with the patient having a history of "recent international health care exposures." The two other patients were identified later on Dec. 23 and 27. Unlike the first case, the two did not have international health care exposures but had "epidemiologic links" to the first case.

According to the agency, this suggests a "health care-associated" spread of C. auris.

Calling it a "serious global health threat," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that C. auris has caused outbreaks in health care settings. Because of this, the agency has been alerting health care facilities in the country to be "on the lookout" for C. auris to help prevent its spread.

C. auris can cause serious illness in patients who are hospitalized. In some cases, it can even enter the bloodstream and spread through the body to cause an "invasive" infection.

"Invasive infections with any Candida species can be fatal. We don't know if patients with invasive C. auris infection are more likely to die than patients with other invasive Candida infections," the CDC noted. "Based on information from a limited number of patients, 30–60% of people with C. auris infections have died. However, many of these people had other serious illnesses that also increased their risk of death."

Furthermore, it is often resistant to the drugs that are typically used to treat Candida infections, and is hard to detect using "standard laboratory methods." It can be misidentified as other fungi, thereby delaying much-needed treatments and control measures.

More than 1,150 C. auris cases have been detected in the U.S. since 2013, the DHS said, adding that Oregon has "never" logged cases of the fungus "until now."

"Fortunately, the organism we're dealing with in this outbreak appears to respond to existing treatments. Nonetheless, it's critical that we prevent the spread of the infection," Healthcare-Associated Infections Program Manager Rebecca Pierce, Ph.D., said in the news release.

In response to the cases, health authorities are now executing "aggressive eradication measures" that have proven to be effective in eliminating C. auris in other hospitals, Jasmin Chaudhary, the medical director of infection prevention at Salem Hospital, said as per the DHS news release.

Such measures include "frequent and effective" disinfection, hand hygiene protocols and properly communicating patients' C. auris status when being transferred to another facility.

Authorities are also contacting health care facilities that may have received transferred patients from affected Salem Health units, as well as patients who have tested positive or had a "high-risk exposure."