New York health officials won't disclose facilities hit by deadly superbug
Cultured C. auris in a petri dish. Some strains of it are resistant to all three major classes of antifungal drugs. Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- A deadly drug-resistant fungus is spreading in hospitals and nursing homes throughout New York City and its suburbs, threatening the lives of those with weakened immune systems. But so far, health officials are refusing to identify the affected facilities.
"It's a very serious health threat," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, Columbia University professor and an expert on public health policy. "It's a superbug, meaning resistant to all-known antibiotics."
It is known as Candida auris, and it is lethal for some patients with existing medical problems .
"These people would be in danger, so you don't want somebody visiting the hospital not knowing that it's around and somehow contracting the infection," Dr. Redlener said. "That would be an utter disaster."
The state Department of Health says there is no risk to the general public and notes that the vast majority of patients have had serious underlying medical conditions.
The numbers underscore the growing health threat. Since first surfacing in 2016, Candida auris has stricken 613 people nationwide.
Related:
1. Deadly Superbug Candida Auris Reaches California
2. What You Need to Know About Candida Auris
3. Novel antifungal shows early promise against Candida auris
Why is it so dangerous?
C. auris is often resistant to major antifungal drugs that are typically used to treat such infections. The C.D.C. says that more than 90 percent of C. auris infections are resistant to at least one such drug, while 30 percent are resistant to two or more major drugs. Once the germ is present, it is hard to eradicate from a facility. Some hospitals have had to bring in special cleaning equipment and even rip out floor and ceiling tiles to get rid of it. (Link)
My understanding is, it spreads like wild fire. It quickly gets in to everything. The smallest cracks, crevasses, everything.
And that creates a really serious problem. (I imagine eventually the technology that can deal with this will be invented-- but it will continue to present a serious problem in the meantime).
One of the improvements currently in use are UV robots.
nano-bots
Why on Earth would authorities not release the sites where this is prevalent?
Sheep don't need to know when, where, and why they face the sheerer. Just follow the ass in front of you.
Sheep don't need to know when, where, and why they face the sheerer. Just follow the ass in front of you.
Although some folks march to the beat of a different drummer (or at least try to):
Novel antifungal shows early promise against Candida auris
Biotechnology company Scynexis, Inc., is reporting early but promising results from a phase 3 trial of a novel drug for treating invasive Candida auris i infections. (cont'd)
Sure. Don't step too off beat though, or the ausies will be nipping at you.
I don't usually.
But occasionally I do take small risks.
When I heard about this, I researched it to see which drug companies were working on the problem.
IMO the evidence that Synexis has a cure is not definite. However, my guess is that it might be worth investing a small amount of money. I was going to buy a little of the stock on Wednesday, but I thought it might dip. So I waited 'till Thursday (yesterday) and bought a little at $1.49/share.
(Here's the 5 day chart of the stock price).
Normally when a stock is that cheap..its that cheap for a reason-- that's not the sort of thing I would even consider buying. And I definitely do not recommend anyone else putting money into an exceededingly high risk situation like this!
For some reason that link may not go to the 5 day. But when the graph opens, you can click near the top to see the price at different time periods.
Looks like the time to get in was December.
You might be right.
Since I bought those shares its been moving down. But yesterday it had a bit if a pop.
So I checked for news about it, couldn't find any.
Then I realized-- there was a big takeover of a small biotech by a major company yesterday (Pfizer and Array) , so apparently many traders were yesterday thinking in terms of more of the same, and speculatively buying small biotechs, thus bidding up shares of SCYX a bit.
Its quite risky, but I was thinking of buying a bit more on the open today. Then I realized I might be able to trade "after hours". So I just actually did buy some today--- at 8:22 AM ($1.40/share). Maybe a mistake-- the buying yesterday in hopes of a takeover might have been a one day thing, stock may pullback again during trading today-- we shall see.
If the trade works, probably sell it tomorrow if there's a big pop.
If the trade works, probably sell it tomorrow if there's a big pop.
If.
P.S: For those unfamiliar with stock market: this is an extremely risky sort of trade-- I am not recommending anyone do this!!!
(In fact, I recommend against buy shares of this stock at this time).
Wll, duh, Doc...it's a fungus not a bacterium
I've had MRSA and a dear friend's daughter died from undiagnosed MRSA that spread throughout her body and by the time they figured it out, it was too late. These superbugs should scare the crap out of everybody.
Stuff is crazy. My friend got an infection many years ago. Bad deal. Scary. Also scary is the fact that, to this day, almost every time he gets a cut or scrape...nasty, painful infection sets in.