Senator urges feds to declare emergency over Candida auris

Sen. Chuck Schumer wants federal officials should declare an emergency due to the spread of Candida auris infecting people in New York, New Jersey and across the country,according to an article on the New York Daily News website.

Schumer wants to allocate millions of dollars to fighting the fungus, which is drug-resistant and very difficult to eradicate.

Most of the cases reported are in New York, New Jersey and Illinois, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Of the 613 confirmed cases reported in the U.S. as of March 31, New York had 319, New Jersey had 106 and Illinois had 156 cases. C. auris was also reported in nine other states.

 “The CDC has the power to declare this an emergency and automatically give us the resources we need,” said Schumer. The CDC has declared C. auris a “serious global health threat.”

Read the article.