Drug Resistant Candida Auris Fungus Infections Increasing In Michigan Hospitals

MDHHS closed a floor of Sinai-Grace Hospital due to a C. auris outbreak back in 2022, but has taken no further such actions on this fungus.  C. auris has been steadily spreading through Michigan hospitals since.  This is a major concern for patients with compromised immune systems because C. auris is very drug resistant and has a 30% mortality rate:

https://www.mlive.com/news/2025/12/drug-resistant-fungus-spreading-in-michigan-hospitals.html

Drug-resistant fungus spreading in Michigan hospitals
By Justin P. Hicks | December 10, 2025, 9:15 a.m.

A fungus known to cause severe multi-drug resistant illness is on the rise in Michigan.

The state identified more than 110 cases of Candida auris in residents in October, marking the highest one-month total since the organism was first identified in a Michigan resident in 2021. Four of the five highest months on record took place since this summer.

C. auris is a type of yeast that can spread easily among sick patients in health care facilities. It’s often resistant to antifungal medications, which makes it difficult to treat.

The organism can remain on surfaces in health care facilities for extended periods and a person may be carrying it without any symptoms.

People most at risk of being sickened by C. auris typically have severe underlying conditions. They’re especially vulnerable if they’re in need of complex medical care, like the use of breathing and feeding tubes and catheters, which can create pathways for C. auris to get into the body.

Most strains are resistant to at least one type of antifungal medicine, and some strains are resistant to all three available treatments.

C. auris is believed to have a mortality rate of 30% or greater, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with higher fatality rates for bloodstream infections.

However, Michigan doesn’t track C. auris deaths. That’s because patients who die after infection are often medically complicated, having had frequent or long-term acute hospitalization with multiple underlying conditions.

Michigan has identified 2,222 cases since 2021. The city of Detroit has reported 1,343 of those cases, or 60%. Cases have been reported across 16 counties, including Wayne (1,545), Oakland (159), Macomb (125), Ingham (108), and Washtenaw (108).

Other counties with at least one documented case of C. auris include Genesee, Saginaw, Kent, Midland, Bay, Ogemaw, Lenawee, Jackson, Calhoun, Livingston and Gratiot.

Residents in their 60s and 70s accounted for 56% of infections as of Oct. 31, with cases ranging from younger than 20 years old to older than 90.

Since C. auris has begun spreading in Michigan, the state has implemented surveillance and prevention activities to ensure facilities are prepared to care for infected patients.

MDHHS has issued recommendations and hosted multiple webinars on patient management, infection prevention, interfacility transfers, and transmission-based precautions.

Nationally, there were 764 cases in 2020, followed by 1,553 in 2021, 2,928 in 2022, and 4,514 in 2023. CDC data wasn’t available for 2024 as of Tuesday.