The CDC says that in US health care facilities there’s an outbreak of candida auris

Ophiocordyceps, The Last of Us, and Candida Auris, a fungal infection that plagues the human body

In the HBO show “The Last of Us,” characters identify zombies among them by the fungi that bursts from their bodies, and fungal parasites manipulate the humans to infect the communities around them.

In real life, the fungal species that inspired the story, Ophiocordyceps, infects insects and does not cause problems for people. HBO, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Some fungi appear out of the blue and are spreading around the world, causing silent PAINs such as Candida auris, according to Fisher.

He said thatFungi are just looking for food and that we are just a source of food. (Saprotrophic describes an organism that feeds on dead organic matter.)

The skin rash on Athlete’s foot, the white marks on the tongue, and the dirt on the cheeks are all caused by one of the superficial fungal infections. Treatments still work on them even though they are annoying.

One of the four on WHO’s list of the most critical species is cryptococcus neoformans, a pathogenic yeast that lives in the soil. People can get sick if they inhale the cells. But in those with a suppressed immune system, it can affect the lungs and spread to the nervous system and blood. Over the years, this fungus has become resistant to some treatments.

Clinical cases of Candida auris, an emerging fungus considered an urgent threat, nearly doubled in 2021, according to new data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People with weakened immune systems may be at increased risk for pulmonary disease from a mold called Apergillus fumigatus. It could also cause allergic reactions or lung infections that might become serious and move to other organs. It has showed growing antifungal resistance, WHO says, thanks to widespread use of azole fungicides to prevent its spread in crops.

“What’s changing is that more people that are exposed have those high risk factors. We have aging populations, and we were using a lot of chemicals in the environment which are forcing fungi to adapt, and our clinical antifungals are being degraded by antimicrobial resistance,” Fisher said.

There have also been more opportunistic fungal infections during the Covid-19 pandemic, just like there have been after flu epidemics, said Dr. Matthew Kasson, a mycologist at West Virginia University.

The WHO encourages countries to boost their diagnostic capacity and watch out for fungal infections. It also recommends more money put into research, medicine and tests for these infections. Currently, fungal infections receive less than 1.5% of all infectious disease research funding, WHO said.

It’s difficult to develop antifungal treatments because, in the words of Dr. Matt Nelsen, a researcher from Chicago’s Field Museum, “animals and fungi are each other’s closest relatives.”

“We share a lot of biochemical similarities, and so when we are trying to kill off the fungus, we need to be careful that we’re not also killing ourselves,” he said.

Kasson said he thinks the attention from “The Last of Us” and other programs means “fungi are having a moment,” yet he hopes it is not going to be overblown.

The spread and rapid rise of candida auris strains during the 2009-2015 epidemic: CDC epidemiology calls for greater surveillance and improved diagnostics

Between 2009 and 2015, four strains of candida auris appeared on four continents. The CDC says all four strains were introduced through international travel in the US.

“The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control,” CDC epidemiologist Dr. Meghan Lyman, lead author of the study, said in a news release.

Cases of Candida auris also expanded geographically. In the US, candida auris is now present in more than half the states, even though it was initially confined to New York City and Chicago. Between 2019 and 2021, 17 states identified their first cases.

Poor general infections prevention and control practices in healthcare facilities are to blame for the transmission of the fungus within the US according to a new study. Most spread happens in post-acute care facilities and ventilator-capable skilled-nursing facilities.

He said that it is almost impossible to eradicate it once it set up shop in a nursing home. “Once it’s on patients too, it can kind of just be colonized for years, if not their life.”