Deadly fungal infection is spreading rapidly across the world – and it cannot be stopped

A fungus known as candida auris has spread rapidly across the globe since it was discovered in 2009 and experts are unsure how to halt its progress. The fungus is resistant to antibiotics, and has spread through at least 15 countries with deadly consequences. The infection enters the bloodstream via wounds and often effects people with weakened immune systems.

It has already been linked to eight deaths in the UK alone.

In the US, there are 685 confirmed cases as of May 31, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

In particular, it takes hold in hospital wards and breeds in people who are already sick.

Hospitals in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Spain and a neonatal unit in Venezuela have all fallen victim to the fungus.

And in the UK, the Royal Brompton Hospital was forced to close its intensive care unit for two weeks in 2016 as candida swept through patients.

Experts are unsure why it has spread so rapidly and seemingly out of nowhere, but some believe it could be down to the warming globe, which allows the fungus to thrive.

Dr Arturo Casadevall, chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said: “As the climate has gotten warmer, some of these organisms, including candida auris, have adapted to the higher temperature, and as they adapt, they break through human’s protective temperatures.

“Global warming may lead to new fungal diseases that we don’t even know about right now.”

“What is unusual about Candida auris is that it appeared in three different continents at the same time, and the isolates from India, South Africa, and South America are not related.

“Something happened to allow this organism to bubble up and cause disease. We began to look into the possibility that it could be climate change.”

To make matters worse, the infection is resistant to antibiotics, making it a ‘super bug’ – a growing problem worldwide.

Dr Mark Rupp, chief of infectious diseases at Nebraska Medicine, told CBS News: “The trumpets have been sounding for some time that this is a real problem.

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“It has the very unfortunate capacity of being very very resistant to some of our antifungals, and it also has the capacity to contaminate the environment and persist in the environment.

“So it’s sort of the double whammy in the infection-control world.”

Humans, especially in the West, have become so reliant on antibiotics to help cure illnesses that many of the bacteria that they are trying to fight have become resistant to the drugs through evolution.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says: “New resistance mechanisms are emerging and spreading globally, threatening our ability to treat common infectious diseases, resulting in prolonged illness, disability, and death.

“Without effective antimicrobials for prevention and treatment of infections, medical procedures such as organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy, diabetes management and major surgery (for example, caesarean sections or hip replacements) become very high risk.

“Antimicrobial resistance occurs naturally over time, usually through genetic changes.

“However, the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials is accelerating this process.

“In many places, antibiotics are overused and misused in people and animals, and often given without professional oversight.”

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