A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy

[LiberalArkie]

Last edited Sat Apr 6, 2019, 12:29 PM - Edit history (1)

By Matt Richtel and Andrew Jacobs
April 6, 2019



Last May, an elderly man was admitted to the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital for abdominal surgery. A blood test revealed that he was infected with a newly discovered germ as deadly as it was mysterious. Doctors swiftly isolated him in the intensive care unit.

The germ, a fungus called Candida auris, preys on people with weakened immune systems, and it is quietly spreading across the globe. Over the last five years, it has hit a neonatal unit in Venezuela, swept through a hospital in Spain, forced a prestigious British medical center to shut down its intensive care unit, and taken root in India, Pakistan and South Africa.

Recently C. auris reached New York, New Jersey and Illinois, leading the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to add it to a list of germs deemed “urgent threats.”

The man at Mount Sinai died after 90 days in the hospital, but C. auris did not. Tests showed it was everywhere in his room, so invasive that the hospital needed special cleaning equipment and had to rip out some of the ceiling and floor tiles to eradicate it.

More

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/health/drug-resistant-candida-auris.html

Here is a link for those who can not view NYTimes: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/deadly-germs-lost-cures-a-mysterious-infection-spanning-the-globe-in-a-climate-of-secrecy/ar-BBVFPi7

[SharonClark]

1. Thanks for the heads up on this.

[Coventina]

2. Hopefully it's only dangerous to humans.

I've given up on our species. We're overdue for a good plague.

And yes, if that includes me, I'm fine with it.

The earth will be far, far better off without us....

And I know exactly what kind of responses I'm going to get, like, "Why not just kill yourself now?" and such.
Because I'm hoping to still do some good before I pass, but if disease takes me, so be it.

[mr_lebowski]

15. I kinda have this same attitude, gotta admit ...

I don't have kids though, so ... if I did my attitude would likely be quite different.

Likelihood this problem would be limited to humans and not other mammals, I have to say seems pretty low, though. This is a fungus we're talking about.

[stillcool]

19. I understand completely..

we humans adapt, but we don't seem to evolve.

[defacto7]

21. We've been devolving since mid 18th century. n/t

[defacto7]

22. How ironic. A virus killing the planet's most dangerous virus.

Humans.

[catbyte]

24. You're among like-minded friends, Coventina.

[sagetea]

25. I have the same

thoughts. I'm just glad that I'm not alone with them.


sage

[MarcA]

27. Life must Evolve to Not live off other life.

Or maybe Life should not survive.

[Maraya1969]

33. Actually your post made me laugh. We need your kind to stay around.

[Hortensis]

37. You and the others who feel this way have the ability to

rid the planet of the "plague" of yourselves any time you want. I can't help feeling that we would be the better without by leaving a more caring and generous human race. Of course, given that many who feel this way have already reproduced, the benefit in those cases would be less.

Or maybe this is just mean-spirited, negative noise? Do you even know that because we do have caring, generous people the infant and child mortality rates have plummeted in the last couple of decades, the numbers living in genuine abject poverty have plummeted, that the average lifespan across the planet has risen into the upper 70s? SEVENTIES!

C. auris has been identified, tracked, and fought by brave people, ones immune to the endemic whining and whimpering, for 10 years now. The news isn't that hospitals concerned about their bottom lines have kept it a secret, but that it's spreading and we still don't have a cure. Oh, of course, and that apparently that magic point at which the media start covering on the FRONT page and TV screen instead of in the health section, as it has been for a decade, has been reached. Again. This will probably pass like the last news breakout did.

Oh, btw, these are dreadful funguses, but C. auris currently tends to affect the very weak and ill, spreading in hospitals but not much through communities of healthy people. Whether that's reassuring or disappointing is up to the individual.

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. I've had the same thought about being "due"

Can you imagine what the world population would be if the Black Plague hadn't killed about 25% of the worlds population over 600 years ago?

[dalton99a]

3. Kick

[FirstLight]

4. Good read...scary though

If we don't kill ourselves with war or climate change, a new "plague" could do the job.

[Hekate]

5. That's a hair-raising article. We have been warned for decades...

Like climate change warnings.

[ismnotwasm]

6. Great.

I work with immunosuppressed patients. We had one transplant patient who had got an illicit organ from another country with a bacterial infection so obscure we just hit it with everything we had.

Bacteria rule the world. And Don’t get me started on molds and funguses. We get patients with fungal brain infections.

[MineralMan]

9. All Candida species suck.

This one was only recently discovered (2009) and a lot of cases have been misdiagnosed as a different Candida species. I assume the word is out, though, to be on the lookout for it.

We're not all doomed, though. Healthy people are not likely to become infected.

[MineralMan]

7. It's a nasty fungal infection, for sure.

It normally infects people who are already seriously ill, though, or who have impaired immune systems. It's difficult to treat, although there are medications available, but it is very dangerous, since most people with the infection already have serious problems and their bodies can't fight off the infection.

Hospitals and nursing homes are the most likely places to get infected with this Candida species.

[mopinko]

10. more and more people w impaired immune systems, tho.

all these humabs out there for autoimmune diseases out there. we dont really know how this affects the overall immune system.
could be big trouble.

[MineralMan]

12. That's true, and more are coming.

A number of new biologic pharmaceuticals, most with the -ab suffix work by selectively depressing the immune system. Sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, Psoriasis, and other autoimmune disorders are most likely to be prescribed those new drugs. Some of their side effects include being prone to infections from both common and uncommon pathogens, including Candida. These new drugs are being heavily advertised by pharmaceutical companies, so doctors are being asked about them.

Candida infections, however, are very, very common. Vaginal "yeast" infections, for example, are caused by a Candida species, as is Thrush, a Candida infection in the mouth. The first is very well known and common. Thrush is more often seen in hospitals and nursing homes.

This newly identified Candida species appears to be more prone to become a systemic infection, rather than a local one. That makes it more dangerous.

We all have one or another Candida species in our bodies most of the time.

[mopinko]

13. i dont find that last sentence comforting.

was it supposed to be??

i know a lot about this topic, as it was an early theory about cfs that it was candida run amuck. the susceptibility of the human body to this fungi makes this a little freaky to me.
fungi in general make me nervous. tough critters they are.

i'm extremely curious about this whole class of drugs. middle kid might be on one soon for plaque psoriasis. if it works. they have been on the market for quite a while now, so i am assuming if they were causing a lot of problems, we would know by now.
a little optimistic for the current reality, but...

[MineralMan]

14. No, not comforting, but the human species gets along fine

with most Candida species. This new one, not so much.

As for those drugs, you'll hear about some of the side effects in those ads. They even include lymphomas. All of those are infrequent side effects, although I don't have any information about how rare they are. But all of those drugs suppress the immune system. That's why they work on autoimmune disorders.

As for plaque psoriasis, I had that as a teenager. I had lesions on both inner ankles and on the palm of my right hand at age 16. After a number of different treatments, I simply stopped bothering trying to get rid of them. They even tried radiation and x-ray treatments. When I was 19, the lesions simply disappeared and never returned.

Those new medications would not be my first choice for treating plaque psoriasis, unless there was psoriatic arthritis associated with them. For myself, I wouldn't use them, due to the immune system suppression. However, my lesions were not particularly large or that bothersome, so they were fairly easy to ignore.

I'd have a serious conversation with your son's physician about side effects and risks before jumping on that bandwagon. Weigh the risks against the benefits.

As for CFS and candida, I don't know much about that, really.

[mopinko]

17. she (not son) has had the joint pain for a long time.

just started getting the lesions in a big way. and in inconvenient places, or course. like on her ankles, when wearing compression socks is the only was she can do her job managing a kitchen.

complicated by the whole-hen's teeth quantities of docs who listen to women about pain. she would be grateful for a non-opioid/pain med based treatment.

yeah, i hear the litany of side effects, and wonder how they have panned out over time. and lots of ai stuff is complex and not well understood. the lymphomas and other cancers make sense because the antibody that is being targeted is a tumor killer run amuck.
i wonder if they are doing titers of these ab's as a part of dx these days. i would want to do that just out of curiosity.
yes, i am a medical nerd.

have a grandniece w severe crohn's, and humira saved her life. literally.
youngest had a mild case as a kid but has outgrown it. was ready to try this if she had gotten worse.
if i needed one, i would jump on it.

but then i do have a strong preference for the devil i dont know.

[MineralMan]

18. I'm betting you could find some information on the frequency

of side-effects online. I haven't looked it up, myself, since nobody I know is considering any of those medications.

It's always a decision, since almost all medications have side-effects. The biologics, though, seem especially worth taking a close look at in that regard. Apparently, beneficial effect from them take weeks to months for substantial results, so a person is on them for quite some time. I just don't know enough about them, really, to have a strong opinion. I do know that autoimmune disorders can be really severe and that these drugs may be a risk worth taking for many people.

I'm sorry you have to deal with it in the first place.

[mopinko]

20. yes- the category of "shit i wish i didnt need to know" is yuuge.

i leave most of that up to them. i taught them to google, i'm out of it now.
that's what they tell me, anyway.

i actually find the biologics amazing. i am old enough to remember when people wondered what we could possibly learn from understanding dna. after all, how were we going to get in and change something so tiny?

so the idea that we have gotten to the point where we can send little biological warriors to war against crucial systems run wild just boggles my mind.
i cant shake the bias that the deeper the understanding and the science, the better it has to be. getting down to changing causes instead of managing symptoms? i'm in.

i love science too much to let her down, and not believe. lol.

[Doremus]

34. Those drug ads cost millions that could be better spent on education

First of all in reporting about the existence of these scourges so that people can made educated decisions about their own care.

And secondly in educating the public that the easiest way to bolster one's immunity is also free: eating properly, i.e. avoiding high-fat foods including all animal products and consuming whole plant-based foods. It's a win for our collective health and the environment. Lest one think it doubtful that what we put in our mouths can have such a detrimental or positive effect on our health, here are a few links for your reading pleasure:

https://nutritionfacts.org/2014/07/03/how-animal-proteins-may-trigger-autoimmune-disease/
https://nutritionfacts.org/

[MineralMan]

36. Nope. The ads drive demand, but pop med stuff isn't the

answer. Non-scientific fads are unproven.

[Doremus]

39. Where did anybody say anything about unscientific fads?

This is exactly what I mean about the dire need for education. smh

[MineralMan]

40. This subthread was specifically about autoimmune disorders.

Psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and Crohn's disease. In those the immune system is overactive. I cannot find any medical research that demonstrates that the type of diet you recommended offers any benefit for those. There are genetic causes for both disorders.

The new biologic medications actually offer good results in many cases, since they inhibit specific aspects of the immune system which attack normal body tissues in those disorders. While they also have dangerous side effects for some patients, many patients consider the risks to be outweighed by the potential benefits. Diet cannot cure either according to studies, although eliminating some foods can help with Crohn's disease in some cases. However, that is not related to your dietary suggestions.

[Doremus]

41. There is a lot of scientific research available on this subject.

One of the sites I linked to, nutritionfacts.org, is comprised of probably thousands of videos discussing medical studies, complete with citations, if they were double-blind studies, who sponsored them, etc., etc. Your search for information, if you're sincere, could begin here as it is quite reputable and there is nothing "fad" about it.

Your claim that autoimmune diseases are genetic is misleading if not wrong. Studies do show a genetic predisposition, but on closer look (the devil is always in the details), it's not quite so clear-cut. People from under developed countries and have no autoimmune disorders have often gotten them after moving to a Western country. Only a minority of identical twins both suffer from the same autoimmune disease. There's a lot of good information on this page by T. Colin Campbell, author of the China Study, the gold standard of science based nutrition information:

https://nutritionstudies.org/autoimmune-disease-genes-infection-environment-gut/

The subject of nutrition is rife with the best headline-grabbing studies that money can buy. I think we've all become numb from the bombardment of sensational claims of causes and cures, all of them selling something, whether it's the latest fad diet or the age-old propaganda from BigAg. Now more than ever it behooves all of us to find the truths that are out there but not screaming in our faces.

[Takket]

11. Wonderful

My wife is in this group. This is terrifying.

And I’m picturing someone like Paul Ryan and drumpf reading about this thing targeting these persons and telling the CDC “what’s your hurry? Doesn’t sound so bad”

[Ilsa]

8. The world's climate, overall, has more moisture

in it from what I've heard. I wonder if that promotes survivability of the fungus on objects, allowing those objects to be vectors? I wonder what the vector is?

[watoos]

16. Where is Bill Gates?

His super strain Zika mosquito didn't do much depopulation. Maybe this is depopulation 2.0?

[malaise]

23. A few years back I posted that it will take a global epidemic to kill

this neo-liberal model.

Public health is non-negotiable. When some rich folks catch this one - we will see changes across the globe.

[PatrickforO]

26. As the human race runs at breakneck speed towards

extinction...

What will it be?

Drug resistant strains of fungus caused by fungicides manufactured by companies like Monsanto?

Reckless overuse of antibiotics in agricultural production by companies like Angus Beef and Perdue Chicken?

Or maybe just high carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses, courtesy of oil & gas, auto manufacturers, and utilities?

Hey, take your choice!

Or...wait...you want to solve the problem? Get rid of the primacy of the shareholder doctrine by expanding the fiduciary responsibility of CEOs and other C-Suite people running publicly held corporations. Seriously. Check out the 'Accountable Capitalism Act' introduced in August 2018 by a Senator who shall remain nameless (in this forum). Do this and we go a long way toward solving thousands of problems just like the three above. Truth is, capitalism is the plague that will end humankind, UNLESS WE GET RID OF THE PRIMACY OF THE SHAREHOLDER DOCTRINE.

OR....

[Ponietz]

28. We are only beginning to understand fungal networks

What if it was just one organism?
(Now imagine what the world’s amphibians are experiencing)

[MarcA]

29. Humans may not be the superior life form after all. n/t

[NNYCDN51]

30. Hadn't heard of this before............

Thanks for the information.

And as many others here stated ... what goes around comes around.
What humans are doing to our planet has to come to end someday-somehow.

Keep On Thinking Free

[LiberalArkie]

32. It is big news today, so it on all the news sources.. Don't do tv often so I don't know about them

[Duppers]

31. K & R

[Cold War Spook]

35. I am 75 years old and a printout of everything that is or was wrong with me

in the last 20 years is 6 pages long. Most are not bad, but some are degenerative diseases. I am doing okay and take 14 medications, 2 eyes drops and 1 nose spray. The reason I list all that is to show that it isn't that easy to die except I ride a dirt bike. That is my only exercise outside of hitting the body bag and speed bag. This is the problem, too many people living too long. I have read many articles by scientists on the maximum population the Earth can support. I now know as much as I knew before reading these articles, nothing. There are too many variables. So to get to my point. I think we need a pandemic to keep the humans going, the percentage of those kills will determine how long it will be before we need another pandemic. And no, I do not want to be one of those killed, at least for another 30-40 years.