Chicago and NYC Report 453 Candida Auris Cases During 2019

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 587 Candida auris cases as of March 29, 2019. 

Most C. auris cases in the USA during 2019 have been detected in New York City (309) and the Chicago (144) areas. 

The CDC says these C. auris cases are the result of an infected international traveler spreading the fungus in the USA. 

C. auris causes severe illness in hospitalized patients, who can remain colonized with C. auris for an extensive timeframe, says the CDC.

Moreover, C. auris can persist on surfaces in healthcare environments, which results in the spreading of C. auris between patients in healthcare facilities. 

This is unfortunate news since there is not an antifungal vaccine available in the USA.   

According to an April 2018 study, a “one-size-fits-all” anti-Candida vaccine may never be achievable.   

‘As a whole, one of the greatest challenges of any antifungal vaccine will be to deal with the large diversity of underlying disease states and of the associated types of immunosuppression that characterizes this highly heterogeneous risk group,’ said this research team. 

And, ‘We propose that future vaccine development efforts should harness the growing mechanistic understanding of trained innate immunity, which might provide not only protection against candidiasis but also potentially cross-protection against a wide range of opportunistic infections.’ 

Recently, a biotechnology company reported promising results from a phase 3 clinical trial of a novel drug for treating invasive Candida auris infections. 

Scynexis, Inc. announced data on April 3, 2019, demonstrating the potential use of ibrexafungerp as an agent to address multiple serious fungal infections, including many that have shown resistance to existing therapies. 

Ibrexafungerp, formerly named SCY-078, the first representative of a novel family of compounds referred to as "fungerps" (antifungal triterpenoids), is being developed for oral and intravenous administration and is in clinical development for the treatment of several serious fungal infections, including vulvovaginal candidiasis, invasive candidiasis, invasive aspergillosis and refractory invasive fungal infections. 

David Angulo, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of SCYNEXIS, said in a press release, "Our ability to enroll and successfully treat patients in studies, shows that there is a clear unmet medical need for a novel and more potent antifungal therapy, particularly an oral agent, to treat patients with these devastating fungal infections."

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