A drug‑resistant fungus has quietly settled into California's hospitals and long‑term care facilities, and infection‑control teams are scrambling to keep it from spreading further. Candida auris typically targets patients who are already very sick, and its knack for dodging multiple antifungal drugs turns every outbreak into a high‑stakes fight.
Federal surveillance tallies show roughly 7,046 clinical C. auris infections nationwide through Dec. 20, 2025, with California reporting 1,524 clinical cases that year, according to CDC. State and federal reporting also recorded three clinical cases in California in the first 10 days of January, per the agency's week‑ending Jan. 10, 2026 tables.
Local reports show how that looks on the ground. As the Sacramento Bee reported, outbreaks have been active in a dozen states and are clustering in ventilator‑capable nursing homes and long‑term acute‑care hospitals. Experts and officials told the outlet the organism can linger on surfaces and often requires special disinfecting and screening to detect and contain.
Who’s most at risk
C. auris most often strikes patients who are already very sick, including people with long hospital stays, chronic conditions, or invasive medical devices such as central lines, feeding tubes and ventilators. An analysis of U.S. hospitalizations found C. auris‑associated stays carried an estimated crude mortality rate of about 34%, a number that helps explain why clinicians treat any detection as urgent, according to the CDC's letter on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
How it spreads and how hospitals respond
The fungus can live on patients’ skin and on room surfaces for extended periods, which gives it plenty of chances to move between patients via equipment or staff if strict controls slip. Hospitals respond by isolating people who test positive, using gowns and gloves for care, and stepping up routine and terminal cleaning with disinfectants proven effective against C. auris, according to clinical guidance and summaries from the Cleveland Clinic.
What families and visitors should know
For most healthy people, the immediate risk is low. Still, families can ask whether a facility screens high‑risk admissions, how shared equipment is cleaned, and whether patients are flagged when they are transferred between facilities. Visitors are urged to use alcohol‑based hand sanitizer or soap and water, avoid visiting when they are sick, and ask the care team about isolation and cleaning protocols, according to clinical experts at the Mayo Clinic.
State and local public‑health agencies are monitoring C. auris and working with hospitals to limit its spread. If you are worried about a loved one in a facility, you can contact the facility’s infection‑prevention team or your county public‑health department to get the most current guidance.
