It survives on patients' skin, on bedside tables, on sick beds, and even on medical equipment, such as thermometers or blood pressure monitors. The fungus Candiozyma auris is spreading at an alarming rate in European hospitals, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). This fungus, resistant to antifungal drugs, causes 29 to 531 deaths when it infects a patient. their latest report, the authorities are alerting about the situation and urging European countries to respond to this risk of nosocomial infection.
Between 2013 and 2023, more than 4,000 cases of fungal contamination Candidozyma auris have been recorded in the European Union, with a sharp increase of 1,346 cases spread across 18 countries in 2023 alone. Spain, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Germany have led the contamination rates over the past ten years. France, Cyprus, and Germany are among the countries with the most recent epidemics.
Conversely, Greece, Italy, Romania and Spain say they are no longer able to identify the points of spread because the fungus has spread so widely across the country. Candidozyma auris is usually spread by patients who already carry it and are transferred from one hospital to another. This is how outbreaks occur.", explains the ECDC communications department to Science and Future.
Among those infected, 29% to 53% will not survive
In hospitals, not all patients are equal when it comes to this fungus. In fact, the general population is largely resistant to the fungus. But over time, most antifungals have become ineffective in eliminating Candidozyma auris (formerly called Candida auris). Infected patients receive a first line of treatment, if it does not work, a second line of treatment is attempted. But " In many cases, Candidozyma auris is resistant to all available antifungal agents. There is then no effective treatment available.", deplores the ECDC, which specifies that the patients most at risk of being infected are those who are seriously ill, those who have just come out of major surgery, those who have catheters or tracheotomies.
Added to this are " immunocompromised patients, such as those with cancer or who have undergone a bone marrow or organ transplant. Other risk factors include renal failure, a hospital stay of more than 10 to 15 days, the use of mechanical ventilation, central venous catheter placement, total parenteral nutrition (intravenously, editor's note) and sepsis", specifies theWorld Health Organization (WHO). Among those infected, 291 to 531 TP3T will not survive, according to a 2022 study. However, sometimes patients carry the fungus on their skin without showing symptoms. They then live with the fungus without even noticing it.
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“ Hospitals must be prepared“
Of the 36 European countries included in this work, only 17 have a national surveillance policy for Candidozyma auris, deplores the ECDC. And only 15 have developed a national prevention and control policy. At the national level, health systems must be alerted to the risk, establish surveillance, provide guidelines to prevent and control infections, and ensure that medical biology laboratories have the capacity to respond to the situation.", explains the ECDC. " Hospitals must be prepared to identify cases, implement effective prevention and finally ensure that during patient transfers, hospitals are alerted that the patient is carrying the fungus.. »
Europe is not the only continent experiencing a worrying increase in the spread of Candidozyma aurisAlready in 2023, US federal public health agencies were alarmed by a rapid increase in cases. They had gone from 476 in 2019 to 1,471 in 2021.
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