In vivo evolution to echinocandin resistance and increasing clonal heterogeneity in Candida auris during a difficult-to-control hospital outbreak, Italy, 2019 to 2022

Euro Surveill. 2023 Apr;28(14):2300161. doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.14.2300161.

Abstract

A difficult-to-control outbreak of Candida auris is ongoing in a large tertiary care hospital in Liguria, Italy, where it first emerged in 2019. In a retrospective analysis, 503 cases of C. auris carriage or infection were observed between July 2019 and December 2022. Genomic surveillance identified putative cases that no longer occurred as part of one defined outbreak and the emergence of echinocandin (pandrug) resistance following independent selection of FKS1S639F and FKS1F635Y mutants upon prolonged exposure to caspofungin and/or anidulafungin.

Keywords: Candida auris; anidulafungin; antifungal resistance; caspofungin; epidemic; fungal infections; genomic surveillance; pandrug.

MeSH terms

  • Antifungal Agents* / pharmacology
  • Antifungal Agents* / therapeutic use
  • Candida / genetics
  • Candida auris
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Drug Resistance, Fungal / genetics
  • Echinocandins* / pharmacology
  • Echinocandins* / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Retrospective Studies

Substances

  • Echinocandins
  • Antifungal Agents