In 2009, a fungal infection, called Candida auris, emerged in Japan and spread to the rest of the world in a span of few years, especially in hospitals. A superbug, this germ has evolved defences against common medicines and cannot be treated by the fungal medications currently available like fluconazole, a standard anti-fungal drug in many countries, and echinocandins. The fungus is so powerful that some hospitals even ripped out floor and ceiling titles to get rid of it.
Salient Features of the Bug
The germ has the following traits:
(i) It is a life-threatening fungus with high death rate.
(ii) It generally attacks people with weakened immune systems. The most vulnerable are newborns, the elderly, the sick, the diabetics, and those who have undergone broad-spectrum antibiotic or antifungal therapy.
(iii) Fever, aches, fatigue, blood poisoning/sepsis, coma, and organ failure, are common symptoms. Death occurs in some severe cases.
(iv) The fungus can colonise on human skin or surfaces and live for a long period of time, thus allowing it to spread to other patients.
(v) Candida auris is resistant to all the available fungicides, rarely used before 2007 but are now commonly used—Azoles, morpholines, benzimidazoles, strobilurins, succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors, and anilinopyrimidines. Azoles lead the pack and are now commonly used in both crop protection and medicine in eliminating a wide range of fungi.
(vi) The Candida auris genome has several genes of a major facilitator superfamily (MSF) which effectively destroys broad classes of drugs.
Reasons for the Spread of Candida auris
Studies show that the fungus is prevalent because of fruits or vegetables grown by using fungisides on them. By using azoles to control fungi on fruit or grain, drug resistance in patients has been accelerated. The amount of fungicides used in crops can be understood from the sale of fungicides which has tripled since 2005, from US$ 8 billion to US$ 21 billion in 2017. Twenty-five different forms of agricultural azole fungicides are being used in millions of tonnes. Fungicides used in order to control soyabean rust have quadrupled from 2002 to 2006. More than 50 per cent of corn and wheat have fungicides applied on them. Fruits and vegetables are commonly treated with the fungicide, boscalid. As many as 33 different fungicides are used on potatoes. To make the matter worse, heavy unseasonal rains, drought, and high temperature due to climate change give birth to more fungi and antifungals.
Solution
Organic farming is the only solution to the present crisis. Using anti-biotics and fungicides on crops must be banned. Scientists have found that instead of azole fungicides to control blight in potatoes, silica works much better. Crop rotating and putting different crops together like soya bean and flax can greatly remove fungi. For instance, planting broccoli between rotations of strawberry crops removes fungus. Organic farming supports good fungi which crowd out pathogenic fungi. The government must train agricultural scientists and remove ignorant people working in Krishi Vigyan Kendras. The catastrophic superbug is killing millions because we indiscriminately use medicines on animals grown for food and on crops.
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