U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) is seeking additional federal funds to fight a superbug called Candida Auris that is spreading throughout New York.
Schumer is urging the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to designate the spreading and multidrug-resistant fungus an official emergency, which would make New York eligible for special public health crisis response dollars that could stretch into the millions.
Candida Auris is a fungus that causes serious infections and is resistant to antifungal and antibiotic medication, which is characteristic of a “superbug.” The CDC says any species of bacteria can transform into a “superbug” by misusing antibiotic medication. When a person fails to finish a prescribed antibiotic, or they take the respective medication when it is not needed, they are at risk for contracting a “superbug” infection.
“While the CDC is doing a fine job honing in on the threat this superbug presents to New York and the country, with the wave of a pen, they can help beat back the wave of this fungus’ spread across New York in an even tougher way,” Schumer said. “And that is what they should do: deliver a new raid of resources to stop this superbug from spreading even more across New York, Long Island, and Upstate. They can do it by qualifying ‘superbugs’ for official emergency response funding, adding the category to the federal eligibility list. We have done this successfully for Zika, Ebola, H1N1, the list goes on. The point here is that when you are dealing with a vexing bug like this one, which puts our healthcare facilities and the public on edge, every dollar we can use to better identify, tackle and treat this deadly fungus is a dollar well spent.”
In 2016, the CDC awarded $25 million to the Zika fight, and in 2016, CDC awarded about $165 million for the Ebola fight. In 2009, the agency awarded more than $1 billion for the fight against H1N1. Schumer is urging the CDC to add ‘superbugs’ to this same eligibility list, allowing New York and other states to access additional funds to combat it. The CDC has already awarded New York more than $6 million in funding to address Candida Auris.
The additional CDC dollars could be used to boost state and local testing capacity of the fungus, invest in more rapid detection technology, develop a robust public awareness campaign to educate the public, invest in fungal disease surveillance, and reduce unnecessary antibiotic use in patients to set the stage for resistance.
“By making superbugs like Candida Auris eligible for CDC emergency response funding, we can bring even more federal dollars to New York and build the firewall we need to help beat back any additional spread,” Schumer said.
New York has 319 confirmed cases of the superbug, the most of any state. Illinois is next with 156 cases while New Jersey is third with 106.