Clinical and laboratory features of patients with Candida auris cultures, compared to other Candida, at a South African Hospital.

Introduction: Multidrug resistant Candida auris is an emerging threat worldwide. It has been identified in Africa, however, there is minimal data available comparing C. auris to other Candida species in Africa.

Methodology: Retrospective, case control study at a tertiary South African Hospital. Clinical and laboratory features of patients with positive C. auris clinical cultures from 1 January 2015 to 31 August 2018 were compared to patients who cultured C. albicans and C. glabrata.

Results: Forty-five clinical cases with C. auris cultures were identified. The median age was 32 years (IQR = 26-46). The median duration of hospital stay was 64 days (IQR = 39-88) and median time from admission to diagnosis 35 days (IQR = 21-53). Indwelling devices and previous antibiotic exposure were found to be significant risk factors. All C. auris isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B and micafungin. Patients treated with amphotericin B alone, had a higher mortality (73.33%, n = 11/15) than patients treated with an echinocandin (54.55%, n = 6/11), however this was not statistically significant. All C. auris isolates were healthcare associated with 80% (n = 36/45) acquired in ICU. The 30-day all-cause in-patient mortality was 42% (n = 19/45) for C. auris, 36% (n = 16/45) for C. albicans and 53% (n = 24/45) for C. glabrata.

Conclusions: C. auris is an emerging multi drug resistant threat in South Africa. Improved access to echinocandins and improvement of infection prevention and control strategies are imperative to prevent further morbidity and mortality due to this pathogen.