Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Department of Biological Science and Technology, College of Biological Science and Technology, National Chiao Tung University, HsinChu 300, Taiwan.
School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Emergency & Critical Care Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
J Formos Med Assoc. 2018 Jun;117(6):462-470. doi: 10.1016/j.jfma.2017.10.005. Epub 2017 Nov 6.
Candida auris is a recently identified multi-resistant Candida species, first reported in Japan in 2009, and poses a serious global health threat. Lack of awareness of this new Candida species and difficulties with laboratory identification have impacted significantly on outbreak detection and management, and compromised patient outcome. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to raise awareness of healthcare personnel to this emerging pathogen and determine its prevalence, impact, and challenges to the Taiwan healthcare system. Enhanced laboratory testing strategies are needed to differentiate C. auris from other Candida species to provide accurate diagnosis and implement control measures early enough to prevent hospital outbreaks. In this report, we review the key epidemiological, microbiological and clinical characteristics of C. auris and provide the results of a multicenter surveillance study of C. auris in Taiwan. We also conducted a web-based survey to determine awareness of the medical community to C. auris and the capability of Taiwanese hospital laboratories to identify this microorganism. C. auris has not yet been isolated from humans in Taiwan, but the unique features of this microorganism and its ability to reach across international boundaries justify the importance of these initiatives in Taiwan.
耳念珠菌是一种最近才被发现的多重耐药念珠菌，于 2009 年首次在日本报道，对全球健康构成严重威胁。由于人们对这种新型念珠菌缺乏认识，且实验室鉴定存在困难，严重影响了暴发的检测和管理，从而影响了患者的预后。因此，迫切需要提高医护人员对这种新出现病原体的认识，并确定其在台湾的流行情况、影响以及对台湾医疗体系的挑战。需要增强实验室检测策略，将耳念珠菌与其他念珠菌区分开来，以便提供准确的诊断，并尽早采取控制措施，防止医院暴发。在本报告中，我们回顾了耳念珠菌的主要流行病学、微生物学和临床特征，并提供了台湾耳念珠菌多中心监测研究的结果。我们还进行了一项基于网络的调查，以确定医学界对耳念珠菌的认识以及台湾医院实验室识别这种微生物的能力。目前，台湾尚未从人类中分离出耳念珠菌，但这种微生物的独特特征及其跨越国际边界的能力证明了这些在台湾开展的工作非常重要。
