Outbreaks of a drug-resistant superbug fungus spread in two US cities

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday reported that there are outbreaks of a drug-resistant "superbug" fungus spread among patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities in Texas and Washington, D.C. 

Termed as Candida auris, the fungus preys on weak immune systems. 

As per the CDC, evidence suggests these cases involved person-to-person transmission, which would be a first for the US.

However, the cluster in the two cities is completely unrelated to each other.

The 30-day mortality in both outbreaks combined was 30 per cent, although other health conditions may also have played a role.

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A total of 101 cases of fungus have been identified in Washington, D.C., from January to April 2021. Out of which, three were isolated as being resistant to all three major classes of anti-fungal medications.

In Texas, there have been 22 cases, with two being resistant to all three antif-ungal medications, and five resistant to two of the medications.

 CDC's Dr. Meghan Lyman, an author of the report, was quoted by CBS saying, "This is really the first time we've started seeing clustering of resistance".