Background: Candida auris is an emerging pathogen that constitutes a serious global health threat. It is difficult to identify without specific approaches, and it can be misidentified with standard laboratory methods, what may lead to inappropriate management.
Case presentation: We report, probably the first in Poland, C. auris isolation from blood cultures and wound swabs of a young male following meningococcal septicaemia, in February 2019. The patient had been previously hospitalized in the United Arab Emirates. The isolate was rapidly identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry and therefore clinicians were promptly informed on the alert pathogen isolation. The targeted antifungal treatment was successful and infection control measures seemed effective. ITS-based identification and subsequent whole genome sequencing showed that the C. auris isolate belongs to South Asian lineage (clade I).
Conclusions: C. auris is able to cause outbreaks in healthcare settings. Therefore, it is important to quickly identify C. auris isolates in hospital settings so that healthcare facilities can take proper precautions to limit its spread.
Keywords: Candida auris; Candidaemia; Infection prevention; MALDI-TOF MS; Poland; Whole genome sequencing.
© 2022. The Author(s).