Candida Auris Cases Continue Rising in U.S. Health Care Settings
Candida auris, a drug-resistant yeast that has spread through U.S. health care facilities since 2016, continues to increase, according to a CDC surveillance report released June 30, 2026. The report found that clinical cases rose from 2,882 in 2022 to 6,197 in 2024. The fungus mainly affects hospitalized patients and residents of long-term care facilities, particularly those with serious underlying conditions, ventilators, central lines, prolonged hospital stays or heavy antibiotic exposure. It is not considered a major threat to healthy people.
The CDC data include both clinical cases, in which the organism is detected during evaluation for possible infection, and screening cases, in which patients are swabbed to identify colonization. Because a patient may first be colonized and later develop infection, the two categories can overlap and should not be added together.
Experts note that the rise may reflect both increased spread and expanded testing. Screening cases became nationally notifiable in 2023, and hospitals have broadened surveillance efforts. Bloodstream infections, which are clearer indicators of invasive disease, rose about 60 percent from 991 in 2022 to 1,586 in 2024. That increase is significant, though smaller than the more than doubling seen in total clinical cases.
The rate of annual growth has slowed, from 96 percent between 2021 and 2022 to 54 percent and then 40 percent in subsequent years. The CDC says this may reflect a return to stronger infection-control practices after pandemic-related disruptions.
Screening patterns have also changed. Long-term acute care hospitals accounted for most detections in 2022, but by 2024 ordinary acute care hospitals reported the largest share, likely because more facilities began screening patients at admission.
Most isolates resist fluconazole, a common antifungal drug. The key question is whether strains resistant to echinocandins or multiple antifungal classes remain rare. Current surveillance does not include drug-susceptibility results.