Deadly 'Superbug' Threat To New Jersey Increases, Rutgers Warns

Hospitals in New Jersey have been reporting an increase in life-threatening illnesses resulting from a deadly fungal infection, according to Rutgers University. Now the institution says it plans to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight the deadly pathogen.

With the number of New Jersey cases increasing by 58 percent since May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded Rutgers University a $300,000 contract over two years to fight the infection's spread as part of the CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Solutions Initiative.

The infection is caused by the yeast Candida auris, which can enter the bloodstream. This yeast is difficult to identity and often does not respond to commonly used anti-fungal drugs, leading to high mortality, according to Rutgers officials.

The CDC says New Jersey has had 27 confirmed cases of the infection and 23 probable cases. The state's number is the second highest in the nation, behind only New York, which has had 92 confirmed cases and 4 probable.

In May, the CDC said New Jersey had 17 cases and New York had 39. Candida auris grows as yeast, and symptoms include difficulty swallowing, burning, genital itching and sometimes a cheese-like discharge that looks white, according to the CDC.

“It’s acting like a superbug," Paige Armstrong, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service officer, said earlier this yar. "Without appropriate infection control and really a rigorous response, [it] could lead to even more cases in the United States.”

The Rutgers team – led by David Perlin, executive director and professor of the Public Health Research Institute at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and postdoctoral fellow Milena Kordalewska – will identify a new way to rapidly and accurately detect C. auris in swabs from patients and hospital environments, according to Rutgers officials.

They will also analyze transmission patterns in New Jersey healthcare facilities using genetic fingerprint technology.

“What makes C. auris so alarming is that it is largely a drug-resistant, healthcare-associated infectious agent that can be easily transmitted between patients and the patients’ environment,” says Perlin. “This is extremely rare for a yeast.”

In 2009, C. auris was first described in a patient in Japan. As of Oct. 25, the CDC reported 153 confirmed and probable infections due to the yeast in the nation. There is documented transmission of C. auris to U.S. patients from healthcare facilities in India, Pakistan, South Africa and Venezuela.

“As reports of C. auris continue to mount within U.S. healthcare facilities, it is worrisome that the problem may grow much worse,” says Perlin. “The keys to containing the epidemic are infection control, the development of molecular tools to reliably and rapidly identify the pathogen and a better understanding of its genetic profile that facilitates transmission within hospital environments.”

Fungal infections often cause serious disease among patients with compromised immune systems or other debilitating conditions resulting in high morbidity and mortality. Globally, nearly 1.4 million deaths a year are attributed to invasive fungal infections, which is on par with deadly diseases like tuberculosis.

CDC photo