Guidelines assist screening to prevent drug-resistant fungal infections

Screening all admitted patients who had lived in a nursing home within a month before hospital admission for C.auris, a drug-resistant fungal infection, enabled Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City to catch more C. auris cases early and prevent further outbreaks. Published in the American Journal of Infection Control, the researchers say the guidelines could promote early detection of C.auris in high-risk patients and prevent hospital outbreaks. Mount Sinai initially screened people with more obvious risk factors, including patients with a tracheostomy or those on a ventilator, before expanding the guidelines. Researchers screened 591 patients for C. auris who were admitted from a nursing home from January 2022 to September 2023. They identified eight cases that would have gone undiagnosed under the prior protocol. (Newswise news release, 10/31/24)