This Deadly Fungus Has Been Found in 5 States Near Idaho Including Utah and Washington

A deadly fungus has been spreading across the United States for over a decade, starting on the East Coast in New York and New Jersey.

The infectious and deadly disease has now spread across all but a handful of states.

Somehow, ID Seems Immune to Deadly Fungus Spreading Across the US

Idaho and Washington are among the states with no infections registered by the CDC. Oregon's first case was in 2021, Utah's first clinical case was in 2023, and Washington has had multiple verified cases since the last CDC report (so, not yet registered by the CDC reporting).

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The deadly fungus is called Candida auris and was first discovered in a patient in Japan in 2009. The fungus has a high mortality rate and is often resistant to antifungal medications. The first cases reported in the US on August 31, 2016, after officials issued a clinical alert to local health departments to see if C. auris was ‘present in the United States’.

Deadly Fungus Spreading Across US Has Yet to Hit Idaho, Montana, or Wyoming

The latest report includes numbers through 2023. It shows that there have been nearly 11,000 cases in the United States. There have been cases of the deadly fungus reported in Washington as early as October of 2023, but that data has yet to be included on the CDC website. Those stats can be found on the Washington State Department of Health website.

In 2023, the CDC called the disease an ‘urgent antimicrobial resistance threat’. Candida auris has a mortality rate of around 60 percent.

The disease mainly affects those with already severe underlying medical conditions, which makes tracking the actual mortality rate difficult.

This Deadly Fungus Has Been Found in 5 States Near Idaho and Washington

Mateo in Boise put together a helpful gallery to help identify symptoms. See it below: