First report of Candida auris in Romania: clinical and molecular aspects

Abstract

The emerging opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida auris raises significant concerns for public health due to its outbreak potential, the associated high mortality, increased resistance to antifungals, challenging identification to species level, since commonly used diagnostic methods can confuse this fungus with other Candida spp. The present outbreak report describes probably some of the first Candida auris cases in Romania, providing clinical and epidemiological data, and also whole genome sequencing data. The cases were identified in three hospitals in Bucharest during the first eight months of 2022.

Candida auris Outbreak in a Multidisciplinary Hospital in Romania during the Post-Pandemic Era: Potential Solutions and Challenges in Surveillance and Epidemiological Control

“…Until 2021 there were no Candida auris strains reported from Romania to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) [10]. The first published study refers to 40 strains obtained from three hospitals in Bucharest between January and August 2022 [21]. The comparatively low number of documented cases for Romania, contrasting with Italy or Greece, most likely indicates the underdiagnosing and the lack of screening for this pathogen in patients with evident risk factors.…”

“…In February 2022, 277 cases were reported in more than eight hospitals in Liguria, with another 11 cases in the Emilia-Romagna region [15]. In Romania, the first cases of C. auris infections or colonization were reported at the beginning of 2022 and a study conducted on 40 specimens revealed that they belonged to the South Asian clade (I) [21].…”