'Superbug' Strikes New Jersey; 17 Infected And Growing

A potentially dangerous deadly "superbug" has struck New Jersey, where hospitals are dealing with the second-highest rate of infection in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty-one cases of "Candida auris," a multi-drug-resistant fungus that is emerging globally, have been identified in New Jersey and elsewhere in the United States, according to the CDC.

New Jersey has had 17 cases, according to the N.J. Department of Health, second only to New York, which has had 39. The remaining states are Illinois, with 4; and Indiana, Maryland and Massachusetts, each with one.

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

Armstrong said the increase in global cases and travel have likely had an impact on the United States, where cases have increased by more than 800 percent since the fall. But the CDC said it couldn't explain why New Jersey and New York have had the biggest impact.

"It's a great question," said Sharon Tsay, also a CDC EIS officer, noting that the area is a major population center, which would increase the likelihood of the disease.

The fungus was first found in a man’s ear in Japan in 2009, according to the CDC.

All of the New Jersey patients have been hospitalized, according to the CDC. One New Jersey patient died in July 2015 after suffering from a brain tumor. The agency did not say where the New Jersey cases occurred.

In November, there were only seven cases total that were identified nationwide, two of which were in New Jersey, according to the CDC.

“We need to act now to better understand, contain and stop the spread of this drug-resistant fungus,” CDC Director Tom Frieden said in a CDC release. “This is an emerging threat, and we need to protect vulnerable patients and others."

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.

Neil Gaffin, an infectious disease specialist at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, told CBS2 that the organism can be spread patient to patient, as well as via "environmental surfaces."

“What’s also unique about this organism is that it can actually stay on skin surfaces for prolonged periods of time, even months after the initial infection is cured,” Gaffin told CBS2.

The N.J. Health Department says it’s working on tracking cases throughout the state to ensure appropriate control measures are taken.

"We are doing ongoing investigations at impacted health care facilities and we have done several site visits with impacted facilities," said Assistant Commissioner Tina Tan.

"We’ve sent several electronic messages to health care providers asking them to implement prompt infection control as soon as they suspect C. auris infections and to labs requesting that they notify public health about suspect test results."

Most of the Candida auris strains from U.S. patients showed some drug resistance, making treatment more difficult. Samples of Candida auris strains from other countries have been found to be resistant to all three major classes of antifungal medications.

Armstrong spoke publicly at a conference in Atlanta last week about the Candida auris, saying emerging multidrug-resistant fungus is "acting like a bacteria."

Armstrong said the impact on medical practitioners is apparent, noting that Colombia's neonatal intensive care units have been suffering through enduring outbreaks of Candida auris.

“What we were able to find out is that, in fact, it is colonized in people even after you get treated with antifungal medications, people still have it on their skin," Armstrong said at the conference. "And so this is something that we’ve never seen before with a fungus, or I should say we don’t usually see with a fungus."

CDC Photo