Interventional Care
Candida auris: Choosing the Right Lines of Defense
Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen that is often resistant to antifungal drugs and disinfectants. Evidence shows that it can survive on health care environmental surfaces and cause outbreaks in health care facilities1. It is a serious global health threat and has caused severe infections with frequent mortality in many countries1. For these reasons, it is important to choose the right methods of defense to ensure a clean health care environment.
Routes of Transmission1
- Candida auris can spread from one person to another through contact transmission in hospitals and nursing homes.
- People can carry Candida auris somewhere on their bodies, even if it is not making them sick.
- Persons colonized with Candida aurismay contaminate other people, objects, or surfaces allowing the fungus to spread through contact transmission.
- Studies have shown that Candida auriscan persist on surfaces in the healthcare environment for at least 14 days (Piedrahita et al., 20172; Welsh et al., 20173); Candida auris has been cultured from contaminated bedding for up to 7 days (Biswal et al., 2017)4.
Surface Disinfectants
The EPA recently announced that products that make a claim against drug-resistant Candida auris must submit data using a specified test method and the Candida auris strain AR Bank #0385.5 Proper disinfection of environmental surfaces using disinfectants effective against C. auris is important to help prevent the spread of Candida auris.
PDI Healthcare offers several products that are effective against Candida auris:
- Super Sani-Cloth® Disinfecting Wipes
- Sani-Cloth® Prime Germicidal Disposable Wipes
- Sani-HyPerCide® Germicidal Wipes and Spray)
Enhanced Disinfection
In addition to surface disinfectants, UVC has been shown effective against Candida auris as well.
According to a study, “Inactivation of Candida auris and Candida albicans by ultraviolet-C,” in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE), the Tru-D® device was shown effective against C. auris in both direct and indirect line of sight. In the study, the Tru-D device was set on the vegetative bacterial cycles varying from 17-19 minutes.
“Tru-D SmartUVC and PDI Healthcare believe in a layered approach to infection prevention to include hand hygiene, antibiotic stewardship, thorough manual cleaning/disinfection and enhanced disinfection using UVC light energy,” Alice Brewer, MPH, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC, director of clinical affairs for Tru-D SmartUVC, said. “A combination of PDI products together with the Tru-D technology can help provide the cleanest environments possible, giving patients and staff peace of mind.”
References
- https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/c-auris-drug-resistant.html1
- Piedrahita, Christina T., et al. “Environmental surfaces in healthcare facilities are a potential source for transmission of Candida auris and other Candida species.” infection control & hospital epidemiology 38.9 (2017): 1107-1109 facilities are a potential source for transmission of Candida auris and other Candida species.” infection control & hospital epidemiology 38.9 (2017): 1107-1109
- Welsh, Rory M., et al. “Survival, persistence, and isolation of the emerging multidrug-resistant pathogenic yeast Candida auris on a plastic health care surface.” Journal of clinical microbiology 55.10 (2017): 2996-3005
- Biswal, M., et al. “Controlling a possible outbreak of Candida auris infection: lessons learned from multiple interventions.” Journal of Hospital Infection 97.4 (2017): 363-370. 6https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/tracking-c-auris.html
- https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/guidance-efficacy-evaluation-products-claims-against-drug-resistant-candida