Who’s afraid of Candida auris?
bioMérieux steps in to meet new identification needs.
By Victoria Girard, Ph.D.
New species of pathogens that can cause more severe infections and exhibit greater resistance to antimicrobials are a serious health concern globally. Fighting these pathogens requires concerted efforts on numerous levels. Microbiologists play a role in terms of providing rapid identification for clinicians to initiate and monitor appropriate treatment. bioMérieux is committed to keeping up with new threats by providing the diagnostic tools microbiologists need.
Candida auris is one such emerging pathogen. First described 8 years ago in Japan, C. auris has now rapidly spread around the world. This yeast, that can be multi-drug resistant, often causes a wide variety of invasive infections, including wound, urinary tract and bloodstream infections. Patients who have undergone recent surgery, had central venous catheters, or been hospitalized for lengthy periods, as well as those with diabetes, are particularly at risk. It is a high risk for healthcare-associated infection outbreaks since it spreads easily and displays clonal inter- and intra-hospital transmission.
“We face Candida auris infections [worldwide] that are difficult to treat and to control,” said Dr. Alexandre Alanio, Mycologist MD Ph.D. from the Saint Louis Hospital in Paris, in a recent interview at ECCMID 2017 in Vienna. “Some [Candida auris] strains are resistant to many antifungal drugs – some up to three antifungal drugs. We did not see this with other Candida species.”
To avoid inappropriate treatment and spread of infection, it is important to investigate further if there is any question about a Candida. “Be curious when you meet a Candida that you are not able to identify,” said Dr. Alanio.
Candida auris often goes unnoticed in routine microbiology laboratories, because commercial identification systems misidentify most isolates C. haemulonii1. Therefore, specialized laboratory methods are needed to accurately identify C. auris.
To answer this urgent identification need, bioMérieux now has two systems that contain identification algorithms for C. auris in their databases, VITEK® MS RUO (Sacchromycetales software update package is required) and the most recent VITEK® 2 software (version 8.01 - contact your Representative for availability). The next knowledge base update for VITEK® MS IVD software (v3.2) will also contain this species.
Be sure to watch bioMérieux’s interview with Dr. Alanio to learn more about C. auris:
[1] . Kathuria et. al. “Multidrug-Resistant Candida auris Misidentified as Candida haemulonii: Characterization by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry and DNA Sequencing and Its Antifungal Susceptibility Profile Variability by Vitek 2, CLSI Broth Microdilution, and Etest Method.” Clin. Microbiol. June 2015 vol. 53 no. 6 1823-1830
