Pharmaceutical professionals will be working hard to create a drug that can fight against a Japanese super fungus following the death of eight Brits after contracting it.
Candida auris has been traced to 25 hospitals in the UK and is thought to have infected more than 250 patients in the country so far.
The fungus, which enters the bloodstreams through open wounds, is becoming a worldwide threat, as it has caused several deaths since it was discovered in Japan in 2009.
It is so dangerous as it can be passed from person to person very easily, colonising a victim’s skin before it even enters the bloodstream.
A spokesperson for Public Health England (PHE) told The Sun: “What makes candida auris somewhat unique is that it spreads so easily from person to person. Once in the bloodstream, it circulates and multiplies, causing sepsis [blood poisoning].”
Yeast cells can also form on organs, including the liver, spleen or the brain. These result in abscesses or could even form vegetations on heart valves.
PHE cannot understand the full extent of the crisis, as those who have caught the fungus and died were already considered to be seriously ill. Therefore, it has not been recorded as the cause of death.
However, this fungal infection, which is resistant to drugs, is becoming increasingly prevalent, and could be spreading between patients already in hospital care.
The fungus first arrived in Britain in 2015 in the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, forcing its intensive care unit to close for 11 days while it dealt with the outbreak.
This was followed by an epidemic at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital in 2017 when 76 patients were infected.
According to the Express, 200 British patients have had their ‘skin colonised’ by the fungus, while 50 people have managed to survive the infection.
However, some people have not been that lucky, and a recent study revealed out of 51 patients with the disease in New York City, 45 per cent died within 90 days of being diagnosed.
The report, published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Emerging Infectious Diseases, found in nearly all of these cases the patients could not be treated by anti-fungal drug fluconazole, as the fungus was already resilient to it. Therefore, it is being considered a ‘superbug’ that cannot be eradicated with medication, making it very difficult for doctors to treat patients who have contracted it.
Candida auris is particularly dangerous, as it preys on those with already weakened immune systems, including the elderly, newborns and the infirm.
It is becoming a perilous problem in the USA where has been 587 reported incidences of the fungus, with the majority occurring in New York, New Jersey and Illinois. As a result of this, CDC has labelled it an “urgent threat”.
While the fungus is currently more of a risk to those who are already weak, if a treatment is not found, scientists are worried it could start infecting those who are considered healthy, enabling the disease to spread more rapidly around the world.
Pharmaceutical companies that do manage to create a drug that can kill candida auris will require a tertiary packaging business to get their medication to patients who need treatment urgently.