First report of Candida auris in America: Clinical and microbiological aspects of 18 episodes of candidemia

OBJECTIVES: Characterization of a hospital outbreak of Candida auris candidemia that involved 18 critically ill patients in Venezuela.

METHOD: Bloodstream isolates of C. auris obtained from 18 patients admitted at a medical center in Maracaibo, between March, 2012 and July, 2013 were included. Species identification was confirmed by ITS rDNA sequencing. Isolates were subsequently typed by amplified fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting (AFLP). Susceptibility testing was performed according to CLSI. Clinical data were collected from all cases by using a standard clinical form.

RESULTS: A total of 13 critically ill pediatric and 5 adult patients, with a median age of 26 days, were included. All were previously exposed to antibiotics and multiple invasive medical procedures. Clinical management included prompt catheter removal and antifungal therapy. Thirteen patients (72%) survived up to 30 days after onset of candidemia. AFLP fingerprinting of all C. auris isolates suggested a clonal outbreak. The isolates were considered resistant to azoles, but susceptible to anidulafungin and 50% of isolates exhibited amphotericin B MIC values of >1 μg/ml.

CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that C. auris is a multiresistant yeast pathogen that can be a source of health-care associated infections in tertiary care hospitals with a high potential for nosocomial horizontal transmission.