{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T11:23:48Z","timestamp":1781522628332,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,11]],"date-time":"2022-05-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1652227200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Many healthcare centers around the world have reported the surge of Candida auris (C. auris) outbreaks during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among intensive care unit (ICU) patients. This is a retrospective study conducted at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) between 1 October 2020 and 15 June 2021, to identify risk factors for acquiring C. auris in patients with severe COVID-19 infection and to evaluate the impact of C. auris on mortality in patients admitted to the ICU during that period. Twenty-four non-COVID-19 (COV\u2212) patients were admitted to ICUs at AUBMC during that period and acquired C. auris (C. auris+\/COV\u2212). Thirty-two patients admitted with severe COVID-19 (COV+) acquired C. auris (C. auris+\/COV+), and 130 patients had severe COVID-19 without C. auris (C. auris\u2212\/COV+). Bivariable analysis between the groups of (C. auris+\/COV+) and (C. auris\u2212\/COV+) showed that higher quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score (p &lt; 0.001), prolonged length of stay (LOS) (p = 0.02), and the presence of a urinary catheter (p = 0.015) or of a central venous catheter (CVC) (p = 0.01) were associated with positive culture for C. auris in patients with severe COVID-19. The multivariable analysis showed that prolonged LOS (p = 0.008) and a high qSOFA score (p &lt; 0.001) were the only risk factors independently associated with positive culture for C. auris. Increased LOS (p = 0.02), high \u201cCandida score\u201d (p = 0.01), and septic shock (p &lt; 0.001) were associated with increased mortality within 30 days of positive culture for C. auris. Antifungal therapy for at least 7 days (p = 0.03) appeared to decrease mortality within 30 days of positive culture for C. auris. Only septic shock was associated with increased mortality in patients with C. auris (p = 0.006) in the multivariable analysis. C. auris is an emerging pathogen that constitutes a threat to the healthcare sector.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms10051011","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,12]],"date-time":"2022-05-12T05:10:32Z","timestamp":1652332232000},"page":"1011","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["COVID-19 and C. auris: A Case-Control Study from a Tertiary Care Center in Lebanon"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8136-250X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatima","family":"Allaw","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara F.","family":"Haddad","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3673-3436","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nabih","family":"Habib","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Pamela","family":"Moukarzel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nour Sabiha","family":"Naji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zeina A.","family":"Kanafani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ahmad","family":"Ibrahim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infection Control and Prevention Program, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nada Kara","family":"Zahreddine","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infection Control and Prevention Program, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6981-8535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nikolaos","family":"Spernovasilis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece"},{"name":"German Oncology Center, Limassol 4108, Cyprus"},{"name":"ESCMID (European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) Study Group for Infections in Critically Ill Patients\u2014ESGCIP, 4001 Basel, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Garyphallia","family":"Poulakou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"ESCMID (European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) Study Group for Infections in Critically Ill Patients\u2014ESGCIP, 4001 Basel, Switzerland"},{"name":"3rd Department of Medicine, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Sotiria General Hospital, 11572 Athens, Greece"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Souha S.","family":"Kanj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine Department, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"},{"name":"Infection Control and Prevention Program, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut 1107 2020, Lebanon"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"365","DOI":"10.1097\/QCO.0000000000000735","article-title":"MDRO transmission in acute hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic","volume":"34","author":"Jin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Curr. 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Public Health"}],"container-title":["Microorganisms"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/10\/5\/1011\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T23:09:31Z","timestamp":1760137771000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-2607\/10\/5\/1011"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,11]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5]]}},"alternative-id":["microorganisms10051011"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/microorganisms10051011","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-2607"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-2607","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,11]]}}}