No new cases have been reported since a patient was treated in 2015 for the "newly emerging" fungus that is resistant to many medications, the hospital said.
(U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) The New Jersey hospital that was one of the first in the nation to confront a newly resistant form of fungal infection said it has not seen any new cases since a patient was treated there in 2015.
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick was one of just five nationally to have identified an infection by a worrisome yeast strain first identified in Japan.
Federal officials last Friday issued an alert to the medical community to watch for a strain of yeast infection that is particularly hard to diagnose.
The strain, Candida auris, has shown up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the United Kingdom, Africa, and elsewhere in the past several years. The CDC has now confirmed it has made it to the United States in at least seven cases in four states.
Two of those cases involved New Jersey residents, and an investigation of their medical histories revealed their stays at RWJUH overlapped at some point.
The hospital indicated the patient who contracted the organism in 2015 was treated with anti-fungal medication and cleared of the infection.
"During this period, hospital staff exercised contact isolation precautions while caring for the patient. Contact isolation precautions include wearing gowns and gloves while caring for the patient, practicing good hand hygiene, limiting the use of specific equipment to the patient on isolation, and disinfecting all equipment that is used in the patient's room," the hospital's statement indicated. "In addition, following a high-risk patient's discharge, the room is disinfected using Tru-D ultraviolet technology."
The second patient wasn't diagnosed with the infection until admission to a hospital in Maryland. However, that person had at some point sought treatment at Robert Wood, the CDC said.
The "newly emerging" fungus is resistant to many anti-fungal medications, and also requires a special lab test to confirm. As a result, the CDC cautioned, it can easily be mistaken for a more common form of yeast infection.
Although four of the seven patients died - including both the patients treated at some point in New Jersey - it is doubtful the deaths could be traced to their fungal infections. All had compromised health due to severe illnesses.
The patient treated entirely in New Jersey died of a brain tumor in July of 2015. The Maryland patient died in April of 2016 after undergoing a bone marrow transplant.
Whole-genome sequencing of samples from the two N.J. cases showed the strain of fungus to be very closely related. They were also related to the version reported in South Asia.
However, neither patient had traveled to that region or had any other direct link to South Asia, the CDC warning said. That means it is likely they were infected here, the alert stated.
Kathleen O'Brien may be reached at kobrien@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @OBrienLedger. Find NJ.com on Facebook.