US states hardest hit by the deadly fungus Candida auris have been revealed on an interactive map from DailyMail.com.
It shows how the microscopic strain of yeast, also known as Cauris, has been detected in more than half of US states since it first emerged in the US in 2016.
The highest numbers are in the country’s major coastal cities. New York state has been hardest hit, with 1,325 cases since 2016, followed by Illinois with 1,044 cases and California with 813 cases.
Next is Florida, which has recorded 683 cases, New Jersey (419) and Nevada (408), based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2013 and 2022.
It comes after health officials issued a warning on Cauris on Monday, saying the hospital-acquired infection had tripled in recent years and had become resistant to multiple drugs.
Cauris infections have been on the rise recently, with US cases rising from 1,310 in 2020 to 4,041 in 2021. There were 5,754 cases last year.
The CDC does not track how many people have died from C auris, and it can be difficult to know if patients have died from the fungus, as it usually infects people who are already very sick.
CDC data shows that fungal infections caused 7,000 deaths in the US and 1.5 million worldwide by 2021.
The hardest hit states are those with the highest number of hospitals – the breeding ground for Cauris.
The fungus does not form germ tubes and is rarely found in the natural environment.
Most transmission occurs in healthcare facilities, especially among residents of long-term care facilities or those with indwelling devices or on mechanical ventilators.
Healthy people usually don’t get sick, but among the weak and vulnerable, it kills up to 60 percent.
People contract the Cauris by touching an infected person. Cauris can also be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces or equipment, where it can survive for weeks.
Cauris is a microscopic strain of yeast that is now found in more than half of the US states
Most transmission of Cauris occurs in healthcare facilities, especially among residents of long-term care facilities or those on residential equipment or on mechanical ventilators
Cauris can also live on the skin or other parts of the body, such as the ear or wounds, without causing an active infection and making you sick.
But in some patients, the fungus can enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body, leading to potentially deadly invasive C auris infections, such as in the blood or internal organs.
This usually occurs when a medical device is inserted into the skin or gastrointestinal tract, such as a catheter or an IV.
The fungus kills more than one in three people with invasive C auris.
Cauris showed up simultaneously in hospitals in India, South Africa and South America more than a decade ago. Researchers don’t know why, but speculate that climate change could have played a role.
Fungi usually can’t tolerate the warmer temperature of the human body, but scientists think C auris may have adapted to survive in a warming climate.
The spreading fungus is eerily similar to the hit HBO show “The Last of Us,” where a real cordyceps fungus has evolved due to global warming to infect humans, control their minds and turn them into bloodthirsty zombies watching vines explode from their bodies. bodies and infect others.
Three years after the fungus was first reported in the US, the CDC gave the fungus its highest level of concern because it is often multidrug resistant, easily transmitted in healthcare settings and can cause serious infections with high mortality rates.
The number of cases has more than tripled in the US between 2020 and 2021, with multidrug-resistant strains also becoming more prevalent. Six states reported their first case of Cauris in 2022.
The map shows how 36 states have reported cases of the fungus since it was discovered in the US in 2016.
Last year, Louisiana, New Mexico, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Delaware and Hawaii all reported their first cases of Cauris.
Many of the early cases of Cauris in the US were imported from abroad, but most cases in recent years have been due to local transmission.
Three states – Oregon, Minnesota and Michigan – all reported their first case of the fungus in 2021.
Meanwhile, areas with previous cases of limited spread, such as California, Texas and Florida, have seen new and increasing transmissions in recent years.
The main symptoms of the fungus are fever and chills that do not improve. The fungus can cause many different types of infections, such as in the bloodstream, wounds, or ears.
Transmission has largely been caused by a lack of infection prevention and control in hospitals.
The number of cases of the fungus resistant to the antibiotic echinocandin has also risen – in 2021 there were about three times as many cases as in each of the previous two years.
Antifungal drug echinocandin is the first line of therapy given to treat C auris.
The World Health Organization warned that fungal infections are becoming a “major threat” to public health.