Why is Candida auris a problem?
- It causes serious infections. C. auriscan cause bloodstream infections and even death, particularly in hospital and nursing home patients with serious medical problems. More than 1 in 3 patients with invasive C. auris infection (for example, an infection
that affects the blood, heart, or brain) die.
- It’s often resistant to medicines. Antifungal medicines commonly used to treat Candida infections often don’t work for Candida auris. Some C. auris infections have been resistant to all three types of antifungal medicines.
- It’s becoming more common. Although C. auris was just discovered in 2009, it has spread quickly and caused infections in more than a dozen countries.
- It’s difficult to identify. C. auris can be misidentified as other types of fungi unless specialized laboratory technology is used. This misidentification might lead to a patient getting the wrong treatment.
- It can spread in hospitals and nursing homes. C. auris has caused outbreaks in healthcare facilities and can spread through contact with affected patients and contaminated surfaces or equipment. Good hand hygiene and cleaning in healthcare facilities
is important because C. auris can live on surfaces for several weeks.
What is UTMB doing?
- Patients suspected or confirmed to be positive for Candida auris will be placed in XDRO Contact Isolation.
- All patients from long-term facilities(SNF, assisted living, nursing homes, long term acute care, etc.) will be tested and placed in XDRO precautions until cleared by Infection Control.
- XDRO isolation orders and flags will be documented in EPIC.
- The purple XDRO sign will be placed on the door.
- EVS will perform daily cleanings with bleach-based products and terminally clean the room upon discharge using bleach products. The adjacent inpatient rooms will be cleaned with bleach-based products and continue to terminally clean the rooms with bleach until the source patient is discharged.
- Confirmed positive Candida auris patient’s room only: After discharge, the patient’s room must remain closed until the following steps are met:
- Bleach-based terminal cleaning, all items must remain in the room until results are released.
- All environmental culture results are finalized and negative.
Contact Infection Prevention or your Manager to perform an assessment and provide any additional guidance.
Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/c-auris-drug-resistant.html