CLEVELAND, Ohio — When it comes to drug-resistant infections, most people immediately think about bacteria. The well-publicized MRSA infection caused by a type of staph bacteria that’s become resistant to many antibiotics is an example.
However, a number of infections exist that are difficult to treat due to the fact that they no longer respond to available drugs, and they aren’t all bacteria.
Of recent concern is the multidrug-resistant fungus known as Candida auris. The fungus causes serious complications in critically ill patients and death in up to two-thirds of those it infects.
Now researchers at Case Western Reserve University are making strides to combat the deadly fungus by testing a new potential treatment, thanks to a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Candida auris was first discovered in Japan in 2009.
Its name - auris, which is Latin for ear - comes from the location where it was first identified — a patient’s ear. Since then, it has spread worldwide, and starting in 2018 became of such concern in the U.S. that the CDC added it to the list of infections that state and local health departments should report to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System.
Like MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Candida auris infections often take root in hospital settings, where they can spread quickly among the ill and immunocompromised. It is frequently found in post-surgical patients hooked up to tubes and equipment that provide an optimal substrate for fungal growth.
“It is the only fungi that really behaves like bacteria,” said Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, director of the Center for Medical Mycology at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.
It’s particularly deadly, in part because it’s hard to identify and so many infections go undiagnosed, but also because once identified there’s no way to kill it. Some strains are now resistant to all three of the known anti-fungal drugs, it’s resistant to many hospital disinfectants, and it lives on skin and bedding allowing it to spread easily from person to person and hard to eliminate from the environment.
“What is different and particularly scary about Candida auris is that it can survive on skin and healthcare surfaces up to two weeks, allowing the spread from person to person in healthcare settings and nursing homes,” Ghanoum
Ghannoum studies fungal infections and leads the research team that is evaluating the new drug developed by the New Jersey-based biotech company, SCYNEXIS. The NIH grant will allow Ghanoum to complete pre-clinical testing on the compound which has already shown a strong indication of anti-fungal properties. It will now be tested on fungus grown in a laboratory dish and in animals in preparation for phase I clinical trials in humans.
“We hope to develop new antifungal compounds that will lead to clinical drugs through the research supported by this grant.” Ghannoum said.
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