S’pore records three super fungus infections

SINGAPORE: At least three people in Singapore were found to be infected with Candida auris, a deadly drug-resistant fungus that has been spreading worldwide.

One patient recovered, another left Singapore against medical advice, and the last died. All three were treated at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

Dr Ling Moi Lin, director of infection prevention and epidemiology at SGH, said all three patients were isolated immediately after they were found to be infected with C. auris.

Thorough contact tracing was also done for all individuals who came into contact with the patients, she said.

Dr Ling said: “Patients carrying resistant organisms such as Candida auris are immediately isolated in the Isolation Ward, and upon discharge, the rooms are subjected to terminal cleaning and disinfection of the environment is carried out with ultraviolet C or hydrogen peroxide vapour treatment.”

C. auris is resistant to major antifungal medications and is especially deadly for patients with compromised immune systems, the New York Times reported.

It is spread through direct contact, not by airborne transmission.

According to the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, it kills about half of all patients who contract it within 90 days.

The first case in Singapore was detected in a 52-year-old Singaporeborn woman who suffered several limb fractures following a traffic accident in 2012.

The fungus was found to be resistant to fluconazole, but the patient was not given other antifungal drugs as she was recovering well and was later discharged.

The second case involved a 24-year-old Bangladeshi man who came to Singapore for medical treatment in 2016. He had been admitted to three hospitals in Bangladesh for a metastatic carcinoma, a type of cancer. He was given chemotherapy at SGH and was later found to have fluconazole-resistant C. auris in his bloodstream.

Another antifungal called anidulafungin, which was effective against the fungus, was prescribed. However, the man later returned to Bangladesh against medical advice after just 10 days of treatment here.

The last case involved a 69-yearold American man who suffered an infection that exacerbated his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung disease) while touring Bangladesh in late 2016.