Laboratory-based surveillance of Candida auris in Colombia, 2016-2020

Since the first report of Candida auris in 2016, the Colombian Instituto Nacional de Salud (INS) has implemented a national surveillance of the emerging multidrug-resistant fungus.

This report summarises the findings of this laboratory-based surveillance from March 2016 to December 2020.

A total of 1720 C. auris cases were identified, including 393 (23%) colonisation cases and 1327 (77%) clinical cases. Cases were reported in 20 of 32 (62%) departments of Colombia and involved hospitals from 33 cities. The median age of patients was 34 years; 317 (18%) cases were children under 16 years, 54% were male. The peak number of cases was observed in 2019 (n = 541). In 2020, 379 (94%) of 404 cases reported were clinical cases, including 225 bloodstream infections (BSI) and 154 non-BSI. Among the 404 cases reported in 2020, severe COVID-19 was reported in 122 (30%). Antifungal susceptibility was tested in 379 isolates. Using CDC tentative breakpoints for resistance, 35% of isolates were fluconazole resistant, 33% were amphotericin B resistant, and 0.3% isolates were anidulafungin resistant, 12% were multidrug resistant, and no pan-resistant isolates were identified.

For five years of surveillance, we observed an increase in the number and geographic spread of clinical cases and an increase in fluconazole resistance. These observations emphasise the need for improved measures to mitigate spread.