Outbreak of Candida auris infection in a COVID-19 hospital in Mexico

Villanueva-Lozano, Hiram; Treviño-Rangel, Rogelio de J.; González, Gloria M.; Ramírez-Elizondo, María Teresa; Lara-Medrano, Reynaldo; Aleman-Bocanegra, Mary Cruz; Guajardo-Lara, Claudia E.; Gaona-Chávez, Natalia; Castilleja-Leal, Fernando; Torre-Amione, Guillermo; Martínez-Reséndez, Michel F.

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics of twelve patients with severe COVID-19 and Candida auris co-infection. Microbiological characterization of the isolates consisting on molecular identification, genotypification through multilocus sequence typing and antifungal susceptibility to eight antifungals was performed. Mortality among patients with COVID-19 and C. auris candidaemia was of 83.3% even with the use of appropriate antifungal therapy. All the isolates studied were resistant to amphotericin B. Causes related to the incidence of COVID-19 and candidaemia are not well understood but seems to be related to common contributing factor seen in critically-ill patients; nonetheless, the high mortality reported demands close attention to patients who present this co-infection.