Hong Kong hospitals and homes are facing a deadly fungus

Hong Kong hospitals and homes are facing a deadly fungus

Infection with this fungus has a survival rate between 30 to 60 percent.

Hospitals are most vulnerable

An outbreak of a potentially deadly fungus is worrying Hong Kong health officials. The spread of the fungus is happening rapidly and affecting hospitals, clinics and homes weakened by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Known as Candida auris, this fungus has affected 136 people since the beginning of the year, which is too high when compared to the previous year. It is that in 2019 less than 116 cases of infection were registered in that region than until now.

According to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, cited by “TVI24”, infection with this fungus has a survival rate between 30 to 60 percent. Those infected are between 21 and 101 years old, 80% of the cases are in the age group above 60 years. Still, the numbers of deaths recorded this year have not been revealed.

The most common ways of detecting contagion by this fungus are through the skin, the oral cavity and the gastrointestinal tract. The skin and its peeling is, moreover, one of the most common causes of infection.

The rapid evolution of this fungus may be related to the limited resources and means of cleaning hospital spaces due to the pandemic. From here, immunocompromised patients who have recently undergone surgery will be more vulnerable to the disease.

“Some hospitals do not have isolation beds. Therefore, they are forced to place patients infected with Candida Auris in the corner of the medical wards ”, says Raymond Lai, chief of infection control at the Hospital Authority, stressing that everything will be done to try to contain the spread of the fungus to the community.