A dangerous, drug-resistant fungus already spreading quickly through U.S. hospitals is becoming an even greater global threat, although emerging research suggests potential new treatment options, according to a recent scientific review.
Candida auris (C. auris), often referred to as a “superbug fungus,” continues to spread worldwide and is increasingly able to evade the human immune system, researchers from the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) reported in a review published in early December.
The findings reinforce earlier warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has classified C. auris as an “urgent antimicrobial threat”—the first fungal pathogen to earn that designation—as cases continue to rise across the U.S., especially in hospitals and long-term care facilities.
According to the CDC, , roughly 7,000 cases were identified across dozens of U.S. states in 2025, and the fungus has now been detected in at least 60 countries worldwide.
The review, published in Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, explains why the pathogen is so difficult to control and highlights how outdated diagnostic tools and limited treatment options have failed to keep up. The research was conducted by Dr. Neeraj Chauhan of Hackensack Meridian CDI in New Jersey, Dr. Anuradha Chowdhary of the University of Delhi’s Medical Mycology Unit, and Dr. Michail Lionakis, chief of the clinical mycology program at the National Institutes of Health.
The researchers emphasized the urgent need to develop “novel antifungal agents with broad-spectrum activity against human fungal pathogens, to improve diagnostic tests and to develop immune- and vaccine-based adjunct modalities for the treatment of high-risk patients,” according to their statement.
They added that future efforts should also prioritize increasing awareness of fungal diseases by improving surveillance systems, particularly in resource-limited countries. “All these developments should help improve the outcomes and prognosis of patients afflicted by opportunistic fungal infections,” the researchers noted.
First identified in 2009 from a patient’s ear sample in Japan, C. auris has since spread to dozens of countries, including the U.S., where outbreaks have forced some hospital intensive care units to temporarily shut down, the researchers reported.
The fungus poses the greatest danger to people who are already seriously ill, especially those on ventilators or with weakened immune systems. Some estimates suggest that about half of infected patients may die.
Unlike many other fungi, C. auris can survive on human skin and persist on hospital surfaces and medical equipment, making it particularly difficult to eliminate in healthcare environments.
“It is resistant to multiple antifungal drugs, and it tends to spread in hospital settings, including on equipment being used on immunocompromised and semi-immunocompromised patients, such as ventilators and catheters,” Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone, previously told Fox News Digital.
The fungus is also frequently misidentified, which can delay both treatment and infection control efforts.
“Unfortunately, symptoms such as fever, chills and aches may be ubiquitous, and it can be mistaken for other infections,” Siegel said.
As of September, he noted that intensive research efforts were underway to develop new treatments.
Currently, only four major classes of antifungal drugs exist, and C. auris has already developed resistance to many of them. Although three new antifungal medications have been approved or are in late-stage clinical trials, researchers caution that drug development has struggled to keep pace with the fungus’s rapid evolution.
Despite the concerning findings, researchers say there is still reason for cautious optimism.
In separate research published in December, scientists at the University of Exeter in England identified a possible vulnerability in C. auris while studying the fungus in a living-host model.
Their study found that during infection, the fungus activates specific genes to scavenge iron, a nutrient essential for its survival. The findings were published in December in Communications Biology, part of the Nature portfolio.
Because iron is critical to the pathogen, researchers believe that drugs designed to block this process could eventually halt infections or allow existing medications to be repurposed.
“We think our research may have revealed an Achilles’ heel in this lethal pathogen during active infection,” said Dr. Hugh Gifford, a clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter and co-author of the study.
As scientists work to better understand the fungus, health officials continue to stress that strict infection control practices, rapid detection, and sustained investment in new treatments remain essential.
Health experts also emphasize that C. auris does not pose a risk to healthy individuals.
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