American doctors are concerned about a new deadly fungal infection strain

Dozens of other countries have also noted the occurrence of Candida auris.

Last June, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent a warning to hundreds of thousands of clinicians in hospitals across the country. The message for them is to thoroughly diagnose and be ready with the appearance of a new deadly fungus.

Called Candida auris , this fungus is very resistant to drugs and is capable of causing blood-borne infections.

It has appeared in dozens of countries across continents. The first case was a ear infection in Japan in 2009. Since then, Candida auris has been reported in Colombia, India, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Pakistan, South Korea, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.

Now, after 9 months of warning, many cases of deadly Candida auris infections finally appear in the United States.

Candida auris, a new deadly fungal strain.

Unlike normal yeast species, the Candida auris strain causes extremely serious sepsis . In particular, they can be easily transmitted from person to person, when there exist for months on infected and weekly skin on the surfaces of beds, chairs and other medical equipment in the hospital.

Some strains of yeast are resistant to all drugs used to treat fungal infections. According to a small-scale estimate, more than 60% of infected people die. The most at risk are those who require special treatment in a hospital, who must be on mechanical ventilation or have a large intravenous line.

CDC reports that New York is the region with the highest concentration of fungal infections in the country, with at least 28 cases. In addition, the states of Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey have all recorded similar cases.

Since June last year, the CDC has sent an emergency alert to medical facilities to help them detect early yeast infections. Cases of fungal infections are difficult to diagnose by standard methods.

"At the time of the warning, we began to receive feedback on cases. And now, we know more about how they spread and how they work," Tom Chiller, a leading mushroom expert at CDC, said. Every few weeks, they monitor cases of fungal infections and update new infections.

Patients who have oxygen and intravenous infusions are the most at risk for fungal infections.

Up to the present time, CDC has indicated that all 35 patients are infected, 18 others carry microorganisms in humans but do not develop dangerous conditions.

US health officials emphasize that yeast is part of an emerging group of drug-resistant microorganisms that pose a threat to human health. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's action program, said: "The pathogens are increasing, they are new, scary and very hard to beat."

In the first seven cases of fungal infections reported by CDC last fall, four patients had blood infections and died after only a few weeks to months after the pathogen was identified.

Despite this, health officials say they are not sure if patients die from fungi, or because of their other serious medical condition. Five patients had fungi isolated from the blood, one from the urine and one from the ear.

But if calculated on the current figure, deadly yeast infections are relatively rare."It only attacks the weakest of the sick , " Chiller said. He said that deadly strains of fungi that grow outside the medical environment in the home garden have not yet appeared in the United States. "It gives us a good opportunity to prevent them from spreading , " Chiller said.

In many other countries, infectious fungal strains have been resistant to all three antifungal drugs. However, in the United States, all cases can be treated with two existing drugs.

Even so, future risks are quite large. Medical experts say Candida fungal infection, with a less dangerous fungal strain, is very common in hospitalized patients in the United States. Chiller says they only worry that deadly fungal strains might "slip into the mix".

Called Candida auris, this fungus is very resistant to drugs and is capable of causing blood-borne infections.

Candida fungal infections usually occur in the mouth, throat or vagina. But most of them are not dangerous to death. Only when yeast invades the blood, heart, brain, eyes or bones, the new condition becomes more complicated.

According to health experts, although there are dangers, fungal infections have not reached the alert ring vibration as antibiotic-resistant infections, at least until now. However, precautions are never redundant.

That's why since June last year, CDC has developed support funds and carried out professional improvement work for many laboratories and hospitals. At this point, it seems they are ready to deal with new risks from fungal infections.