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Volume 31, Number 9—September 2025
Research
Increased Incidence of Candida auris Colonization in Early COVID-19 Pandemic, Orange County, California, USA
Alissa H. Dratch, Mi Le, and Matthew Zahn
Table 1
Candida auris colonization frequency counts in 3 LTACHs, by time period of cases, surveillance swabs, and exposure time, during early COVID-19 pandemic, Orange County, California, USA*
| Characteristic | Period |
Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before shelter-in-place order |
Early COVID-19 |
First winter wave |
Delta predominance |
Omicron predominance |
||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| Cases | ||||||
| Skin colonization | 9 | 15 | 154 | 57 | 72 | 304 |
| Clinical case |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| Surveillance swab specimens | ||||||
| Total | 355 | 367 | 1,658 | 1,425 | 1,227 | 5,032 |
| At admission |
16 |
145 |
674 |
703 |
628 |
2,166 |
| Exposure time | ||||||
| Total patient-days | 4,624 | 2,870 | 15,426 | 13,044 | 13,927 | 49,891 |
*Axilla and groin surveillance swab specimens were collected from patients in the 3 LTACHs in Orange County during March 14, 2019–July 18, 2022. Date ranges for each study period are shown in [[ANCHOR###F2###Figure 2###Anchor]]. LTACH, long-term acute-care hospital.
Page created: July 09, 2025
Page updated: August 12, 2025
Page reviewed: August 12, 2025
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