Nevada is the state with the most Superbug fungal infections

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal public health officials have identified the south Nevada as the place in the United States with the highest number of cases of a potentially deadly fungus which is resistant to common antibiotics and can pose a major risk to hospitalized and nursing home patients.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention follow up and found that in 2022, Nevada had 16%, or 384 of the country’s 2,377 clinical cases of the superbug called white ears – followed by California with 359 cases, Florida with 349 cases and new York with 326.

The CDC findings were reported on March 20, the same day as study in Annals of Internal Medicine said cases of this dangerous fungus had tripled in the United States over the past three years, with 27 states and the District of Columbia reporting cases. The first infections in the United States were reported in 2013.

A year ago, the state Department of Health and Human Services notified Health Care Providers on Fungus Outbreaks in Southern Nevada, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The fungus was later identified in more than 30 hospitals and long-term care facilities, according to data the journal obtained from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.

Since August 2021, more than 1,000 people in southern Nevada have been infected with the fungus and 100 people have died, according to data the Review-Journal identified from the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine. Only one case was reported in northern Nevada, Reno in 2019.

Candida auris, or C. auris, is a form of yeast that is generally not harmful to healthy people, but it can pose a life-threatening risk to fragile patients in hospitals and nursing homes. It spreads easily and can infect wounds, ears and the bloodstream. Some strains are what are called superbugs that are resistant to all three classes of antibiotics used to treat fungal infections.

David Hess, a genomics scientist with the state’s Public Health Laboratory, told the Review-Journal that C. auris can be compared to MRSA, a drug-resistant staph infection also associated with healthcare settings.

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