Professional Soldiers ® - Candida Auris??

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- - Candida Auris?? (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54231)

An article popped with "concerns" about this fungus.

Quote:

Deadly germs, Lost cures, A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy. The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs.

By Matt Richtel and Andrew Jacobs, April 6, 2019

Last May, an elderly man was admitted to the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital for abdominal surgery. A blood test revealed that he was infected with a newly discovered germ as deadly as it was mysterious. Doctors swiftly isolated him in the intensive care unit.

The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe. Over the last five years, it has hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, swept through a hospital in Spain, forced a prestigious British medical center to shut down its intensive care unit, and taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa.

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.”

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.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/h...GnjBOiqDRjaWX0

Two points that seem a little strange:

lack of awareness across the board
case tracking pattern

Awareness:

Mayo Clinic Study Implicates Fungus As Cause Of Chronic Sinusitis, Date: September 10, 1999

https://www.sciencedaily.com/release...0910080344.htm

Tracking:

This CDC map looks a little like a BLUE state map (no comedy intended). Seems in infer that sanctuary area(s) are somehow complacent or at least harbor source pathogen carriers?

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-a...g-c-auris.html

ref: CDC datasheet

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-a...quNV-zUYYf8-Xs

Question, Do the 18D's have operational awareness/training and have you seen cases OCONUS?

:munchin

I read that article as well. Not a medic but do recall a lot of medical folks, most with military backgrounds, saying it was a matter of "when" not "if" the new resistant strains of "bugs" would start showing up.

Been saying this for years and have posted some of my work in other threads here. I am advocating a new therapeutic strategy that focuses on activating the innate arm of the immune response to eradicate invading pathogens rather than developing drugs that indiscriminately kill bugs. This requires a whole new way of looking at the problem and that in and of itself is a huge barrier to innovation. But that isn't going to deter me. :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by JJ_BPK (Post 650786)

Question, Do the 18D's have operational awareness/training and have you seen cases OCONUS?

:munchin

I would say no - no real "operational need"...

Guy was elderly (not Guy MF Jones...but guy in article)

Immunosuppressed / compromised is the population of choice for the fungal agent

Acquired through hospital stay / admission

"New" discovery of bug

"Bug" is a fungus (yeast), not a bacteria

Fungemia (blood infection with fungus) is an obscure diagnosis which we use special drugs to treat in the intensive care setting.

PA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle5US (Post 650804)

This info is spot on - as a specialist who works with the severely compromised I can say that yeast/fungal/mold infections are extremely rare in immunocompetent people out walking the streets - those who are hospitalized are at increased risk, but not without other risk factors (open wounds, need for high dose steroids, etc.).

A guy who works with me has a kid with some kind of lung-fungus issue. Seems to spend more time at Hopkins and NIH then at home. No way for a 12YO to live, but the kid is a fighter.