A drug-resistant and potentially deadly fungus is spreading rapidly in U.S. healthcare facilities, according to a government study.
According to a related Sky News report, and New York Post researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the fungus, a type of yeast called Candida auris or C. auris, can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems. The news about the mushroom fungus strained so much the audience that within a few hours after publication, the New York Post server began to experience problems with the distribution of the material.
The number of people diagnosed, as well as the number found through screening to carry C. auris, has been increasing at an alarming rate since the fungus was first reported in the US in 2016.
The fungus was identified in 2009 in Asia, but scientists said C. auris first appeared worldwide about a decade earlier.
Dr. Megan Lyman, chief medical officer of the CDC’s fungal disease branch, said the increases, “especially in more recent years, are really concerning to us.”
“We’ve seen increases not only in areas of ongoing transmission, but also in new areas,” she said.
Dr Lyman also said she was concerned about the growing number of samples of the fungus resistant to common treatments for it.
Dr. Waleed Javaid, an epidemiologist and director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York, said the fungus was “alarming.”
“But we don’t want people who watched ‘The Last Of Us’ to think we’re all going to die,” Dr Javaid said.
“This is an infection that occurs in extremely sick people who are usually sick with many other problems.”
Is The Last Of Us’ actual ‘zombie’ fungus a real threat?
On January 15, 2023, HBO gave another 9 or so hours of joy to Walking Dead fans by airing The Last of Us series. The series turned out so-so, nevertheless, after a week of showing it, it was decided to renew it for a second season, which gave rise to vague suspicions in the minds of conspiracy theorists.
And so, it just so happened that the plot of the series began to take root in life. The story there begins just with a fungal infection that hit the world, which is rather strange – usually all the plots around zombies revolve around a virus.
And now the CDC is writing about some kind of fungus that kills one in three. At the same time, what happens to the first and second is still unknown. CDC claims that the fungus, which can be found on the skin and throughout the body, does not pose a threat to healthy individuals but about a third of people who get sick with C. auris die.
It is possible that the fungus does not kill them, but simply slightly changes something in the brain.
Cases of the fungal disease have been identified in more than half of the 50 states. Health officials believe the number of infections has increased since COVID-19 after some health centers suspended screening for the fungus. The number of infections in the US increased by 95% between 2020 and 2021.
The new research comes as Mississippi faces a growing outbreak of the fungus. Since November, 12 people in the state have been infected with four “potentially linked deaths,” according to the state health department.
