Climate change, animals, and Candida auris: insights into the ecological niche of a new species from a One Health approach

Victor Garcia-Bustos; Marta Dafne Cabañero-Navalon; Alba Ruiz-Gaitán; Miguel Salavert; María Ángeles Tormo-Mas; Javier Pemán

doi:10.1016/j.cmi.2023.03.016

Climate change, animals, and Candida auris: insights into the ecological niche of a new species from a One Health approach

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2023 Jul;29(7):858-862. doi: 10.1016/j.cmi.2023.03.016. Epub 2023 Mar 18.

Authors

Victor Garcia-Bustos¹, Marta Dafne Cabañero-Navalon², Alba Ruiz-Gaitán³, Miguel Salavert¹, María Ángeles Tormo-Mas⁴, Javier Pemán⁴

Affiliations

¹ Severe Infection Research Group, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain; Department of Infectious Diseases, University and Polytechnic La Fe Hospital, Valencia, Spain.
² Department of Infectious Diseases, University and Polytechnic La Fe Hospital, Valencia, Spain.
³ Severe Infection Research Group, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain; Department of Medical Microbiology, University and Polytechnic La Fe Hospital, Valencia, Spain. Electronic address: albacruiz@gmail.com.
⁴ Severe Infection Research Group, Health Research Institute La Fe, Valencia, Spain.

PMID: 36934871
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2023.03.016

Abstract

Background: One of the most puzzling traits of Candida auris is the recent simultaneous and independent emergence of five genetically distinct clades on three continents. Global warming has been proposed as a contributing factor for this emergence owing to high thermotolerance of C. auris compared with phylogenetically close Candida species. This hypothesis postulates that climate change induced an environmental ancestor to become pathogenic through thermal adaptation and was then globally disseminated by an intermediate host.

Objectives: The aim of this review is to compile the current knowledge on the emergence and ecological environmental niches of C. auris and highlight the potential role of animals in transmission.

Sources: A literature search was conducted using PubMed, MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and Web of Science from May 2022 to January 2023.

Content: We discuss the up-to-date data on the ecological niches of this fungus and its mechanisms of emergence, transmission cycle in nature, and worldwide dissemination. We highlight the possibility of an originally intermediate host possibly related to marine or freshwater ecosystems on the basis of recent molecular and microbiological evidence from a One Health perspective. The consequences of harmful human impact on the environment in the rise of new fungal pathogenic species, such as C. auris, are also analysed and compared with other animal precedents.

Implications: The present knowledge can prompt the generation of new evidence on the ecological reservoirs of C. auris and its original mechanisms of environmental or interspecies transmission. Further research on the highlighted gaps will help understand the importance of the relationships between human, animal, and ecosystem health as factors involved in the rise and spread of emerging fungal pathogenic species.

Keywords: Candida auris; Climate change; Emerging fungal diseases; Global warming; Zoonosis.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Candida auris
Candidiasis* / epidemiology
Candidiasis* / microbiology
Climate Change
Ecosystem
Humans
One Health*