Preparing for the Eruption of Candida auris: RIVM Takes Action – Joop – BNNVARA

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) is preparing with the help of the Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen for a possible outbreak of the fungus candida auris, a spokesperson for the institute confirms after reporting by the AD. The fungus, which can be dangerous for humans, seems to be on the rise in America, but according to RIVM, it is also on the rise in the countries around us.

Candida auris is a rare yeast that is difficult to treat, says RIVM researcher Thijs Bosch. Auris is a family of the more well-known candida albicans, which can cause vaginal yeast in women.

According to researchers at Radboud university medical center in Nijmegen, auris appears to be less pathogenic than albicans, but once in the bloodstream, both are usually life-threatening. For people with a healthy immune system, however, it does not have to come to that, Bosch emphasizes, however. They can clean up a mold themselves.

In the Netherlands, five cases of an infection with the fungus have been discovered in the past five years. According to the RIVM, these were all people who had contracted the fungus abroad. They weren’t sick of it. The fungus was discovered because they went to the hospital in the Netherlands and were carefully checked for possible infections due to their recent visit to a foreign hospital. That’s how the fungus came up.

The RIVM now wants to have “surveillance in order” in case candida auris also spreads in the Netherlands. Bosch: “We try to be prepared if it happens more often. Then we want to be able to do good outbreak investigations, for example.”

Candida auris can spread from person to person, but possibly also through medical instruments, for example. They are always extremely well disinfected in the Netherlands, says Bosch, “but there is always a minimal chance that those medical instruments, such as a catheter, spread the fungus.” Not everything is yet clear about the exact route of infection, according to Bosch.

After infection you can carry candida auris with you without being bothered by it. Sometimes it can lead to an infection. This can be especially dangerous for people with a weakened immune system, such as someone who has just had an organ transplant. All this also applies to the “home-garden-and-kitchen fungus” Candida albicans, according to Bosch, but the big difference with that variant is that auris is more resistant to antifungal medication. “It makes treatment a lot more difficult.”