Infection caused by Candida auris: state of the art

Abstract

Candida auris, a new emerging yeast that was isolated for the first time in 2009 in the ear canal of a Japanese patient, are increasingly been associated with outbreaks, threatening the whole world. As a highly lethal and contagious microorganism, C. auris can be considered a threat to public health, mainly due to the high death rate in hospital environments and ability to resist to the main first-line antifungal agents (echinocandins, azoles and polyenes), which limits its treatment and infection control. As it is a microorganism with little scientific and clinical knowledge, controlling its infection is still a great challenge. Faced with the worrying situation, this review presents important information concerning the morphology and biology of C. auris, as well as resistance mechanisms, updated epidemiology, virulence, immune response escape mechanisms, pathogenesis and processor involved in the pathogenesis mechanism, clinical manifestations, laboratory diagnosis and sample collection methods, molecular diagnostics, treatment of infection (main drugs used and future therapies) and prophylactic methods, with the objective not only of clarifying doubts of the scientific and medical population, but also of helping to control new outbreaks of C. auris worldwide.