Attack, Defend and Persist: How the Fungal Pathogen Candida auris was Able to Emerge Globally in Healthcare Environments

TY - JOUR

T1 - Attack, Defend and Persist

T2 - How the Fungal Pathogen Candida auris was Able to Emerge Globally in Healthcare Environments

AU - de Jong, Auke W

AU - Hagen, Ferry

PY - 2019/6

Y1 - 2019/6

N2 - Within a decade after its first description, the multidrug-resistant yeast Candida auris has emerged globally as a nosocomial pathogen causing difficult to control outbreaks. This, together with the alarmingly high mortality rate of up to 66% associated with C. auris candidemia, calls for a better understanding of its virulence traits and routes of transmission. Unlike other clinically relevant Candida species, C. auris seems to have the unique ability to be easily transmitted between patients. Although initially thought to express fewer virulence traits than Candida albicans, recent genomic insights suggest C. auris to possess these traits to a much more similar extent. This review highlights the virulence traits C. auris expresses to attack the host, defend itself against antimicrobial agents and to persist within the healthcare environment.

AB - Within a decade after its first description, the multidrug-resistant yeast Candida auris has emerged globally as a nosocomial pathogen causing difficult to control outbreaks. This, together with the alarmingly high mortality rate of up to 66% associated with C. auris candidemia, calls for a better understanding of its virulence traits and routes of transmission. Unlike other clinically relevant Candida species, C. auris seems to have the unique ability to be easily transmitted between patients. Although initially thought to express fewer virulence traits than Candida albicans, recent genomic insights suggest C. auris to possess these traits to a much more similar extent. This review highlights the virulence traits C. auris expresses to attack the host, defend itself against antimicrobial agents and to persist within the healthcare environment.

KW - Candida/drug effects

KW - Candidemia/epidemiology

KW - Communicable Diseases, Emerging/epidemiology

KW - Cross Infection/epidemiology

KW - Disease Outbreaks

KW - Disease Transmission, Infectious

KW - Drug Resistance, Multiple, Fungal

KW - Global Health

KW - Humans

KW - Virulence

KW - Virulence Factors/genetics

U2 - 10.1007/s11046-019-00351-w

DO - 10.1007/s11046-019-00351-w

M3 - Book/Film/Article review

C2 - 31209693

SN - 0301-486X

VL - 184

SP - 353

EP - 365

JO - Mycopathologia

JF - Mycopathologia

IS - 3

ER -