A day after hospital officials found the first two cases of the fungus Candida auris in Louisiana, health experts are predicting there are likely more cases of the drug-resistant yeast lurking in hospitals and causing mysterious, hard-to-treat infections.
But despite the “superbug” status given to C. auris because it is so hard to kill, its presence is not cause for panic in the general public, doctors and researchers said. C. auris doesn’t typically impact most people even if it is an issue for hospitals already taxed by COVID-19 patients and people who are hospitalized with complicated health problems.
“Candida auris is going to be on the suspect list now,” said Jeffery Hobden, a professor of microbiology at LSU Health Sciences Center, noting that it’s not something that’s typically on the minds of doctors. But he was quick to note that just a small subset of patients need to be concerned.
“This is not the end of the world,” said Hobden. “Most normal healthy people, this is just one more bug that is going to grow on you.”
It’s only among some patients and health care workers that the presence of the fungus is Louisiana is setting off alarm bells. Almost immediately after hearing about the two patients at University Medical Center, Dr. Alfred Luk, a physician who specializes in infectious disease in transplant patients at Tulane Health System, put on a medical gown and swabbed a patient for C. auris himself. He’s…