Scientists are nervous about drug-resistant fungi : NPR
This is a strain of Candida auris cultured in a petri dish at a laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a form of yeast that can harm humans — and is resistant to the most common antifungal drugs. Shawn Lockhart/CDC via AP hide caption toggle caption Shawn Lockhart/CDC via AP Combatting bacterial and viral infections is getting tougher because of their growing resistance to drugs. Antibiotic drugs can no longer be counted on to conquer nasty bacteria. Antivirals don’t always overpower the viruses. This is a huge problem but it is one that widely acknowledged and researched. There’s an additional medical challenge though, that matters a lot. Namely, drug-resistant fungi. Yep, fungi. It’s a topic that doesn’t get discussed much — and that worries Paul Verweij, professor of clinical mycology at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He says there’s a “silence surge” in drug-resistant fungi and that it’s mostly happening under-the-radar. This is a particular challenge in lower-income countries. “Look at, for instance, Candida auris [a type of …
