Candida auris Information

Candida auris: A Drug-resistant Germ That Spreads in Healthcare Facilities

It causes serious infections:
- C. auris can 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 die (for example, an infection that affects the blood, heart, or brain).
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 is highly transmissible between patients through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects in healthcare facilities.
- C. auris has caused outbreaks in healthcare facilities and can spread through contact with affected (active infection and colonized) 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.

Patients suspected or confirmed to be positive for Candida auris will be placed in XDRO Contact Isolation indefinitely.
All patients being admitted 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 environmental cleanings for confirmed and rule out patients with bleach-based 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 inpatient’s room only: After discharge, the patient’s room must remain closed until the following steps are met:

Two complete rounds of bleach-based terminal cleaning, followed by UV light disinfection. All items must remain in the room until full process has been completed.

If the patient has been in the room for less than 24 hours, one completed round of bleach-based terminal cleaning and UV light disinfection should be completed

In the event of an outbreak, additional requirements may be implemented at the discretion of Infection Control & Healthcare Epidemiology that may include closing of the room until environmental sampling is collected and/or resulted.

Rule-out Candida auris inpatient rooms require one (1) complete round of bleach-based terminal cleaning
Hospital outpatient spaces, including procedural areas require one (1) complete round of bleach-based terminal cleaning for all rule-out or confirmed patients. One (1) round of UV light disinfection should be completed, if available.