CDC data show 3,437 Candida auris cases across 27 states in 2026

Thousands of clinical cases of a drug-resistant fungus have been reported in the United States this year, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention summarized by Fox News.

As of the week ending July 25, 2026, the CDC counted 3,437 clinical cases of Candida auris across 27 states. California led with 873 cases, about one-quarter of the national total. Other high counts included Texas (433), Tennessee (283), Ohio (279), Georgia (193), Louisiana (179), Illinois (171), Arizona (171), Michigan (146), Virginia (132), and Pennsylvania (121). Remaining states on the list each had fewer than 100 cases.

Candida auris is a yeast that can cause serious infections, mostly in hospitals, nursing homes, and other health care settings. The CDC says it survives on surfaces for long periods and spreads readily through contact with contaminated objects such as bedrails, doorknobs, and shared medical equipment. People can also carry the fungus without symptoms, a state known as colonization.

A clinical case means the fungus was found in a specimen collected during routine care. That does not always mean an active infection. Effects range from silent colonization to invasive disease, including bloodstream infections.

Patients with severe underlying illness face the greatest risk, especially those on breathing tubes, feeding tubes, IVs, or catheters, and those with frequent or long hospital stays. People without those risk factors are unlikely to become colonized or infected, according to the CDC guidance cited by Fox News.

Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone and Fox News senior medical analyst, called C. auris an emerging problem of great concern. He noted that it resists multiple antifungal drugs and spreads on equipment used with immunocompromised patients. Fever, chills, and aches can look like other infections, which delays recognition.

Invasive infections have been linked to death rates of 30 percent to 72 percent in published figures, though many patients were already critically ill, so the fungus is not always the sole cause of death. The CDC classifies C. auris as an urgent antimicrobial-resistance threat. More than 90 percent of U.S. samples resist fluconazole. Echinocandins remain the main treatment class, though some strains resist all three major antifungal families.

Hospital cleaning and careful equipment disinfection remain front-line defenses while researchers pursue new drugs.