New Guidance on Environmental Control of Candida auris with Antimicrobial Pesticides

For Release: February 17, 2017

Last fall the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified drug resistant Candida auris infections in hospitals in the United States. At that time, CDC issued a clinical alert on Candida to U.S. healthcare facilities and has recently revised its recommendation to include thorough daily and after-discharge cleaning of rooms of C. auris patients using EPA-registered hospital disinfectants active against Clostridium difficile. The previous recommendation was to use a hospital disinfectant effective against fungi. CDC’s disinfection recommendations for C. auris will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.

Drug resistant C. auris is a fungus that poses a global health threat and may cause serious and sometimes fatal fungal infections. C. auris infections tend to occur in hospitalized patients and can be resistant to antifungal drugs.

EPA is responsible for regulating hospital disinfectants and other antimicrobial pesticides used in healthcare facilities. To find a hospital disinfectant with a C. difficile claim, see EPA’s Registered Antimicrobial Products Effective Against Clostridium difficile Spores List K. Guidance to the companies that register antimicrobial products and seek label claims against C. auris is under development.

For more information, visit:
CDC C. auris Questions and Answers
CDC C. auris Recommendations for Healthcare Facilities
CDC C. auris Case Count Update

This announcement was updated on November 6, 2023, to correct broken links.