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Volume 32, Number 4—April 2026
Research
Accelerated Increase in Candida auris Bloodstream Infections during COVID-19 Pandemic, South Africa
Husna Ismail, Olga Perovic, Ruth Mpembe, Warren Lowman, Chetna Govind, Pieter Ekermans, Waasila Jassat, Richard Welch, and Nelesh P. Govender
Table
Distribution of 6 Candida species isolated from bloodstream infection by health sector in study of accelerated increase in Candida auris bloodstream infections during COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa, January 2019–June 2022
| Category | Candida species | No. (%) |
p value | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | Total | |||
| National |
Candida albicans | 793 (23) | 959 (23) | 1,200 (23) | 597 (25) | 3,549 (23) | 0.26 |
| Candida auris | 597 (17) | 1,012 (24) | 1,626 (31) | 693 (28) | 3,928 (26) | <0.01 | |
| Nakaseomyces glabratus* | 332 (10) | 339 (8) | 359 (7) | 209 (9) | 1,239 (8) | <0.01 | |
| Pichia kudriavzevii† | 63 (2) | 93 (2) | 73 (1) | 31 (1) | 260 (2) | 0.01 | |
| Candida parapsilosis | 1,555 (46) | 1,734 (41) | 1,955 (37) | 836 (34) | 6,080 (39) | <0.01 | |
| Candida tropicalis | 75 (2) | 92 (2) | 102 (2) | 68 (3) | 337 (2) | 0.11 | |
| Total |
3,415 (100) |
4,229 (100) |
5,315 (100) |
2,434 (100) |
15,393 (100) |
||
| Private |
C. albicans | 364 (15) | 431 (15) | 605 (16) | 266 (16) | 1,666 (15) | 0.88 |
| C. auris | 580 (24) | 863 (30) | 1,439 (37) | 625 (37) | 3,507 (32) | <0.01 | |
| N. glabratus | 172 (7) | 163 (6) | 190 (5) | 127 (8) | 652 (6) | 0.01 | |
| P. kudriavzevii | 22 (1) | 51 (2) | 39 (1) | 6 (0.4) | 118 (1) | 0.01 | |
| C. parapsilosis | 1,217 (51) | 1,329 (46) | 1,567 (40) | 629 (37) | 4,742 (44) | <0.01 | |
| C. tropicalis | 38 (2) | 32 (1) | 40 (1) | 31 (2) | 141 (1) | 0.04 | |
| Total |
2,393 (100) |
2,869 (100) |
3,880 (100) |
1,684 (100) |
10,826 (100) |
||
| Public | C. albicans | 429 (42) | 528 (39) | 595 (41) | 331 (44) | 1883 (41) | 0.11 |
| C. auris | 17 (2) | 149 (11) | 187 (13) | 68 (9) | 421 (9) | <0.01 | |
| N. glabratus | 160 (16) | 176 (13) | 169 (12) | 82 (11) | 587 (13) | 0.01 | |
| P. kudriavzevii | 41 (4) | 42 (3) | 34 (2) | 25 (3) | 142 (3) | 0.14 | |
| C. parapsilosis | 338 (33) | 405 (30) | 388 (27) | 207 (28) | 1338 (29) | 0.01 | |
| C. tropicalis | 37 (4) | 60 (4) | 62 (4) | 37 (5) | 196 (4) | 0.59 | |
| Total | 1,022 (100) | 1360 (100) | 1435 (100) | 750 (100) | 4,567 (100) | ||
*Previously Candida glabrata.†Previously Candida krusei.
Page created: February 07, 2026
Page updated: April 02, 2026
Page reviewed: April 02, 2026
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