DAILY STAR
Experts are “worried” after the “alarming spread” of a deadly fungus may pose a “serious global health threat”.
The spread of Candida auris has eerie parallels to the HBO drama The Last of Us, where the real-life cordyceps fungus infects humans and unleashes a zombie apocalypse.
And infections of the fungus have skyrocketed in recent years.
There was a “dramatic” increase of cases in 2021 according to a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine published on Monday.
The first case of the infection was reported in the US in 2016. It’s now been detected in 30 countries and more than half of the 50 United States.
The number of cases almost doubled from 756 in 2020 to 1,471 in 2021.
Dr Meghan Lyman, chief medical officer of the CDC’s mycotic diseases branch, said: “We’ve seen increases not just in areas of ongoing transmission, but also in new areas.”
Infections continue to climb with 2,377 clinical cases reported by the CDC in 2022.
The fungus can cause severe illness in people with weakened immune systems, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlined.
It can spread from person to person, or from interactions with contaminated surfaces.
