Global emergence of a multi-drug resistant fungal pathogen,Candida auris

A multi-drug resistant fungus, Candida auris, has recently emerged on several continents as a cause of invasive human infections. First described in Japan in 2009, 1 invasive infection with C. auris is associated with a crude mortality ranging from 33% to 72%. 2–5 C. auris has been reported to cause a wide range of clinical manifestations, including fungaemia, wound sepsis and otitis, and cases have since been described in South Korea, 3,6 India, 4,5 Kuwait 7 and South Africa. 8 This pathogen has also been identified more recently in Colombia, Venezuela, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. 9,10 Molecular studies documented recent, near-simultaneous and independent emergence of C. auris on three different continents. 2 Of most concern, almost all tested isolates are resistant to fluconazole, an important first-line antifungal agent, and in a recent global study, more than 40% of isolates were resistant to two or more major classes of antifungals. 2,4,5,7,8,11 (Full text available online at www.medpharm.tandfonline.com/ojid ) South Afr J Infect Dis 2016; DOI: 10.1080/23120053.2016.1221613