On the emergence of Candida auris: climate change, azoles, swamps, and birds
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Abstract
The most enigmatic aspect of the rise of Candida auris as a human pathogen is that it emerged simultaneously on three continents, with each clade being genetically distinct. Although new pathogenic fungal species are described regularly, these are mostly species associated with single cases in individuals who are immunosuppressed.
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C. auris is an emerging fungal species responsible for healthcare-associated outbreaks and infections associated with relatively poor patient outcomes.
“Candida auris is an emerging fungal species responsible for healthcare-associated outbreaks and infections associated with relatively poor patient outcomes (1–6).”
From Dual function of <i>Candida auris</i> mannosyltransferase, MNT5, in biofilm community protection from antifungal therapy and the host (2025) · cites this paper as [3]
The Opinion/Hypothesis section describes C. auris as a newly emerged fungal pathogen associated with human disease and links clusters of cases to local infection-control issues. Our copy does not report patient outcomes or establish that those outcomes are relatively poor. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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“auris has not been described, one hypothesis is that increasing temperatures due to climate change promoted the emergence of this species that could then thrive in the high temperatures of mammalian and avian hosts (24).”
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- Authors
- Casadevall, A., Kontoyiannis, D. P., & Robert, V.
- Affiliations
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (US)
- Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Casadevall, Arturo
- Venue
- mBio
- Publisher
- American Society for Microbiology
- Published
- 2019-08-27
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 2150-7511 (ISSN-L)
- 2161-2129
- PMC
- PMC6650554
- OpenAlex
- W2963887836
- Cited by
- 515
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2026: 74 · 2025: 76 · 2024: 89 · 2023: 74 · 2022: 88 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 13
- FWCI
- 38.72
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- mBio (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KNAW research portal (Royal Academy of Art and Sciences (KNAW)) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- KNAW Research Portal (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01ai052733-16)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R01-AI052733)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Antifungal resistance and susceptibility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Fungal Infections and Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Yeasts and Rust Fungi Studies
- Keywords
- Candida auris, climate change, azoles, swamps, birds, fungal clades, emerging fungal pathogens, immunosuppression, environmental reservoirs
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Antifungal Agents, Azoles, Birds, Candida, Candidiasis, Humans, Microbial Sensitivity Tests, Phylogeny, Temperature, Communicable Diseases, Emerging, Drug Resistance, Multiple, Fungal, Climate Change
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