Dangerous, Drug - Resistant Fungus Hits 27 States; Here's Where It's Spreading; Superbug

Dangerous, drug-resistant fungus is spreading across hospitals and nursing homes. CBS News, New York, Jan. 6, 2026. (2 mins).
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Superbug hits 27 states: Here’s where the deadly fungus is spreading, The Hill, Dec. 30, '25.

– Hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities are struggling to gain ground on a drug-resistant and deadly fungus that has infected at least 7,000 people in 2025, according to tracking by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Candida auris, a fungus that was first reported in the U.S. in 2016, has spread rapidly over the past several years.

It can survive on surfaces for long periods of time before spreading to patients through catheters, breathing tubes or IVs. Some strains of the fungus are considered a superbug because they’re resistant to all types of medications usually used to treat fungal infections. While healthy people may be able to fight off the infection on their own, the fungus can be deadly in the health care settings where it spreads, where people are often sick and vulnerable.

Fungus labeled ‘urgent threat’ by CDC is spreading rapidly, hospital study finds
“If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own,” Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, told Nexstar.

The fungus’ drug resistance has made it especially hard to contain.

More than half of states reported clinical cases of Candida auris in 2025, the CDC reported.

With one week of data left in the year, the annual case count is approaching last year’s record-breaking figure of more than 7,500 cases. See which states are reporting the most cases of Candida auris in the map below. Data was missing for two states: Alabama and Florida. Some scientists theorize climate change is contributing to the spread of Candida auris and pathogens like it. Historically, fungi have had a hard time surviving at our bodies’ warm body temperature, microbiologist Arturo Casadevall, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, told the Associated Press. But as the climate warms, the fungi are adapting...
https://thehill.com/homenews/5666816-superbug-hits-27-states-heres-where-the-deadly-fungus-is-spreading/