Infections with the super fungus "Candida auris," which is difficult to treat and carries a high risk of spreading in hospitals, have been added to the roster of diseases subject to national control.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on the 27th that, starting on the 29th, Candida auris infection will be designated and managed as a class 4 legally notifiable infectious disease. It is also classified as a healthcare-associated infection.
Candida auris is a type of fungus (yeast) that spreads through contact with infected patients or carriers, contaminated medical devices and environments, and the hands of healthcare workers. It is particularly difficult to treat due to high resistance to antifungal drugs, and it can survive for long periods in hospital settings, making control challenging.
It can be fatal for patients with weakened immunity. If it progresses to bloodstream infection (sepsis), it can be deadly, so early diagnosis and isolation are considered key response measures.
Since it was first reported in Japan in 2009, this infection has spread to more than 60 countries worldwide. In the United States and Europe, cases are increasing mainly in healthcare facilities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed it as a "priority pathogen," and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has designated it an "urgent threat pathogen."
In Korea as well, a series of cases involving more dangerous strains in recent months has prompted calls for a national-level response.
With this designation, sentinel surveillance will be conducted centering on 368 medical institutions nationwide. A reporting system for patients and carriers will be activated, and the patterns of in-hospital spread can be identified more precisely. Health insurance will cover isolation hospitalization fees, which is expected to reduce the burden on medical institutions and patients.
Health authorities recommended that if infection is suspected, patients should be isolated immediately and contact precautions applied even before test results. Long-term inpatients, intensive care unit patients, and immunocompromised people are known to be at particularly high risk.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency plans to prepare infection control guidelines and treatment recommendations, distribute them to medical institutions, and strengthen on-site response capacity.
Lim Seung-kwan, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said, "Designating Candida auris infection as a class 4 infectious disease serves as an opportunity to build a national management system for multidrug-resistant fungal infections that pose a high risk of in-hospital spread," adding, "We will operate a surveillance system to accumulate epidemiological data and advance diagnosis, treatment, and infection control systems."
Meanwhile, legally notifiable infectious diseases are classified from classes 1 to 4. Class 1 is considered the most dangerous in terms of severity, transmissibility, and level of isolation required. Class 4 includes a total of 24 diseases, including Candida auris, influenza, syphilis, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, and human papillomavirus.