Deadly fungus Candida Auris has infected or is being carried by at least thirty-nine patients at Palm Gardens Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation. A year ago, that number was six.
The skilled nursing facility is located at 615 Avenue C, at the corner of E. 7th Street, in Kensington, Brooklyn.
Patients either picked up the yeast-like fungus at Palm Gardens or already had it when they transferred there from another facility, such as one patient who contracted it at Maimonides Medical Center.
Medicare rates Palm Gardens as below average on health inspections, below average on staffing, and average on quality measures. But that doesn't mean that the pathogen isn't also present in higher-rated facilities.
Infection is rare in healthy people.
"Patients who have been hospitalized in a healthcare facility a long time, have a central venous catheter, or other lines or tubes entering their body, or have previously received antibiotics or antifungal medications, appear to be at highest risk of infection with this yeast.Candida Auris is a global problem. It lives on the skin as well as inside the body and spreads easily. It is contracted by either direct contact between people or contact with contaminated surfaces.
"Specialized laboratory methods are needed to accurately identify C. auris. Conventional laboratory techniques could lead to misidentification and inappropriate management, making it difficult to control the spread of C. auris in healthcare settings."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
It causes serious infections, is often multi-drug resistant, is difficult to identify, and has caused outbreaks in healthcare settings, such as hospitals and nursing homes.
"Symptoms might not be noticeable because patients infected with C. auris are often already sick in the hospital with another serious illness or condition. The symptoms of C. auris infection depend on the body part that is affected. For bloodstream infections, the most common symptoms are fever and chills."
Virginia Department of Health
In the U.S., the fungus was first detected in 2015. In New York State, 396 people are known to be infected and 496 are carriers of the fungus but haven't exhibited symptoms at this time.
"We detected 51 clinical and 61 screening cases. All but 1 of the clinical cases from New York were diagnosed in NYC: 21 from 7 hospitals in Brooklyn, 16 from 3 hospitals and 1 private medical office in Queens, 12 from 5 hospitals and 1 long-term acute care hospital in Manhattan, and 1 from a hospital in the Bronx. One clinical case was identified in a western New York hospital in a patient who had recently been admitted to an involved Brooklyn hospital.
Of the 51 clinical case-patients, 31 (61%) had resided in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) immediately before being admitted to the hospital in which their infection was diagnosed, and 19 of these 31 resided in skilled nursing facilities with ventilator beds (VSNFs); 1 (2%) resided in a long-term acute care hospital; 5 (10%) had been transferred from another hospital; and 4 (8%) had traveled internationally within 5 years before diagnosis."
"Candida auris in Healthcare Facilities, New York, USA, 2013–2017" National Institutes of Health