A potentially deadly, drug-resistant fungus is spreading in hospitals and long-term care facilities, a Centers for Disease Control study has found. In addition, specialists believe that there are more cases than those reported.

And in South Florida, specialists say this fungus is nothing new. It was detected in Asia in 2009 and started spreading in the United States in 2015. But today it affects the organs of vulnerable people.

Candida auris, a fungus that causes serious infections primarily in people with weakened immune systems, is spreading rapidly in US hospitals and even nursing homes, according to a Centers for Disease Control study.

According to Dr. José Pérez Tirse, immunocompromised patients who have been on cortisone for a long time, patients who are undergoing a transplant, who have been hospitalized for a long time, intubated in intensive care.

According to the CDC, the fungus was identified in Asia in 2009 and began spreading in the United States in 2015. Currently, it has been detected in more than half of the states in the country. From January to December last year, 2,377 clinical cases 349 were reported in the state of Florida. Including Miami Dade, according to Florida hospital specialist Kendall.

“I don’t want to say we have an alarming number because I don’t want to scare people off because if there’s more attendance than we want.” said Tirsé.

The fungus is transmitted by contact. It can be found on the skin and throughout the body and although it does not usually affect healthy people, they can pass it on to so called colonized people.

Dr. Dadilia Garcés says: “they don’t get sick, so they can transmit the disease and when a vulnerable person arrives, that’s when the clinical manifestations start to appear.”

But perhaps what worries specialists most is that Candida auris is drug-resistant and potentially deadly.

“This fungus has an intrinsic resistance to fungal drugs that we usually use in the hospital. You need a specific drug that must be administered through a vein to treat this fungus.”

“It’s not diagnosed in time. It takes a special culture to be able to detect it and that’s why the Center for Disease Control is sounding the alarm for hospitals to add it to their procedures,” Tirse.

The specialists explained that the hospitals follow a hygiene protocol to avoid the spread. And they recommend washing your hands if you go to an intensive care facility.

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