A mysterious fungal infection has been cropping up in hospitals across the globe. While the mortality rate is unclear, especially because most patients have significant other health problems, it appears to be fatal in about 30–60 percent of patients. So far this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has documented 587 confirmed cases in the US. Health officials are concerned about the microbe’s resistance to known antifungal treatments and its ability to survive in hospital rooms long after a patient has passed. Multiplying these concerns was the observation reported in The New York Times this month that “hospitals and local governments are reluctant to disclose outbreaks for fear of being seen as infection hubs.”
The fungus is a recently discovered species named Candida auris. The Scientist spoke with Christina Cuomo, a senior group leader of the Fungal Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard ...
