Health officials are sounding the alarm over a growing public health concern in New York City, where dangerous, drug-resistant infections — often referred to as “superbugs” — are becoming increasingly difficult to control and treat.

Among the most troubling is Candida auris, a highly resilient fungus that can persist on surfaces even after routine cleaning, often resists commonly used antifungal medications, and has the potential to cause deadly bloodstream infections.

Since its initial identification in New York in 2016, cases of Candida auris have continued to climb. In the past year alone, the state recorded 623 confirmed infections in patients who became ill, along with 849 additional cases involving individuals who tested positive but did not develop symptoms.

Research published last year found that the New York–New Jersey metropolitan region accounts for nearly one-fifth of all Candida auris cases in the United States. Investigators attributed much of the increase to extensive travel and commercial connections with South Asia, where the fungus is more widespread.

Candida auris is only one piece of a broader and growing problem. Medical professionals are increasingly concerned about a surge in highly resistant bacteria, often described as “nightmare bacteria,” driven in large part by the misuse and overprescribing of antibiotics.

“When somebody has a viral illness, they have a respiratory cold, [an] antibiotic [will] have zero benefit to them, but will have more potential toxicity, both in terms of side effects and reactions, but also in the development of resistance,” Dr. Aaron Glatt, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai South Nassau, told The Post.

“The entire opportunity here is for people to use the antibiotics appropriately.”

Antibiotics remain essential tools for treating bacterial infections such as strep throat, urinary tract infections, and bacterial pneumonia. However, they are ineffective against viral illnesses like colds, influenza, COVID-19, and most sore throats, and their misuse contributes significantly to the rise of resistant organisms.

Bacteria become resistant primarily through natural genetic changes, and once resistance develops, these traits can spread between different bacterial strains, compounding the problem.

Global data underscores the severity of the issue. The World Health Organization reported last fall that one out of every six bacterial infections no longer responds to standard antibiotic treatments. Between 2018 and 2023, resistance rates increased steadily, rising by an estimated 5% to 15% each year.

The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the situation, as many patients with mild or moderate illness were unnecessarily treated with antibiotics, accelerating the development of resistance.

“It’s a combination of patients requesting … antibiotics when they don’t need them,” Glatt said. “It’s also incumbent upon physicians to say, ‘No, this disease is not treated with an antibiotic.’”

Despite the concerning trend, experts note that Candida auris does not pose a major risk to the average person. The fungus is most commonly transmitted in healthcare settings such as hospitals and nursing homes.

“It is not something that is of great concern to the typical person on the street,” Glatt said, “but it is especially concerning for patients from nursing homes and … patients who receive multiple antibiotics and are very sick themselves and they’re immunocompromised.”

There are some positive developments. New medications have shown promise in combating certain resistant bacteria, including strains like E. coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

At the federal level, lawmakers are working to address the growing threat. Bipartisan legislation known as the Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions to End Upsurging Resistance (PASTEUR) Act, first introduced in 2020 and recently brought back for consideration, aims to incentivize the development of new antibiotics.

The proposal introduces a subscription-style payment system, in which pharmaceutical companies would be compensated based on the value and innovation of their drugs rather than sales volume, with the goal of stabilizing the market and encouraging research.

“This Netflix model says the government will pay the pharmaceutical [companies] a flat fee for the access to these antibiotics, no matter how much is used or not,” Glatt explained.

“This way, the pharmaceutical industry would be adequately reimbursed with [research and development] that they do,” he continued, “and at the same time, if the drug gets used a lot, it won’t be as expensive.”

{Matzav.com}