Doctors sound the alarm / "Urgent threat", super sticky black fungus an urgent threat, has a 60% mortality rate

The American College of Physicians (ACAP) has issued a warning about the growth of a deadly antibiotic-resistant fungus.

The American College of Physicians (ACAP) has issued a warning about the growth of a deadly antibiotic-resistant fungus.

Cases of Candida auris, better known as C auris, have risen rapidly in recent months, raising fears of another killer disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had already described it as an "urgent threat" in 2019, but statistics show that the numbers have increased over the past four years.

New research from the CDC has found that case numbers more than tripled in the US between 2020 and 2021, with antibiotic-resistant strains becoming more common. The fungus is thought to have a 60 percent fatality rate in humans who become infected.

The latest study looked at the number of confirmed and probable cases that were reported to state and local health facilities between 2016 and 2021.

Fungal infections caused 7,000 deaths in the US in 2021, according to the CDC, with 1.5 million deaths worldwide. It has been suggested by some experts that this is due to the changing climate which is ideal for the fungus. The antifungal drug echinocandin is the first line of therapy given to treat C auris.