Is routine screening for Candida auris necessary in ICU?

The capability to cause invasive infection, multi-drug resistance, and health care-associated outbreaks of Candida auris have made it a pathogen of great concern. Estimating how many patients in our intensive care unit had C. auris colonization and what characteristics put patients at risk for having Candida spp. colonization were the primary goals of the study.

Swabs from axilla and groin were collected from 229 patients getting admitted to the ICU. Samples were inoculated into CHROMagar^TM Candida Plus medium. Colonies presumptively identified as C. auris by the presence of light blue with blue halo and were confirmed by VITEK-2.

Our study showed that only one patient was colonized with C. auris. A total of 47 (20.5%) patients were colonized with Candida spp., of which Candida parapislosis was the predominant organism. History of antibiotic use and cerebrovascular accident were independent risk factors in Candida colonization.

Active screening for Candida auris in all patients is not required in our hospital as the prevalence was very low and not cost-effective. Therefore we plan to modify our screening strategy and use risk factors based surveillance strategy as it may serve as an ideal strategy.