A Michigan man tested positive for Candida auris this spring, marking the state's first confirmed case of the deadly, drug-resistant fungus since the CDC started tracking it in 2016, the Detroit Free Press reported July 29.
The fungus was found May 27 in ear drainage from a 76-year-old man with a history of chronic ear infections, according to a document obtained by Columbia University's Brown Institute for Media Innovation in New York City that was shared with the Free Press.
Health officials said no other C. auris infections have been identified in relation to the man.
"There was no threat to the public, and the patient's healthcare providers were aware and took the proper precautions," Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson for MIchigan's health department, told the Free Press.
The CDC has identified 948 C. auris cases in 18 states and Washington, D.C., between May 2020 and April 2021.
"I look at this as potentially our Ebola. So we need to be very, very cautious when we're talking about C. auris," Russell Faust, MD, PhD, medical director for the Oakland County Health Division, told the Free Press. "It's in Canada. It's in Illinois to the west of us. It's in New York to the east of us. It's south of us, in those states. So we know it's here and we know it's now in Michigan."