WASHINGTON– On April 21, 2023, Congresswoman Susie Lee (NV-03) led the entire Nevada delegation in calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to take decisive action and provide additional support for southern Nevada’s public health professionals and healthcare providers, as the state currently faces the largest outbreak of Candida auris (C. auris) infections in the country. These increasingly drug-resistant, potentially lethal fungal infections are a major cause for concern, spreading across a number of southern Nevada hospitals and long-term care facilities.
In the letter, Congresswoman Lee was joined by Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01), Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-02), and Congressman Steven Horsford (NV-04).
“We are writing to draw your attention to the outbreak of Candida auris (C. auris) in southern Nevada that has now become the largest in the country, with more than 1,100 infections since August 2021, according to the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory (NSPHL). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers C. auris to be an urgent threat, the CDC’s highest level of concern. However, despite this classification, we remain concerned that CDC has yet to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent the further spread of C. auris in Nevada and the more than 26 states now reporting infections. We urge the CDC, working alongside interagency partners, to take decisive action against C. auris and swiftly deliver necessary resources to the public health professionals and health care providers in Nevada on the front lines of this outbreak,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter to CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
Original source can be found here.
