A Deadly Fungus Outbreak Has Hit Illinois

Nearly a quarter of the national cases have occurred in Illinois. 

It's called the Candida virus and it's not your usual fungus.

As of Monday, there were 154 cases in Illinois. 95 were in the Chicago area, 56 in Cook County. It has NOT reached Winnebago county. Yet.

The Candida virus mainly affects the elderly or already sick patients and is difficult to diagnose or treat.

The fungus will normally grow on your skin and you can carry it without becoming ill.

ChicagoTribune - Healthy people don’t usually get Candida auris infections. It more often strikes people who already have multiple underlying conditions. It’s after having invasive medical procedures or suffering wounds that patients were more commonly found to suffer an infection. Four out of five patients with Candida auris had an intravenous infusion, two-thirds had wounds, and half or more had a feeding or breathing tube or urinary catheter.

To reduce the spread of disease officials are issuing the common sense tactic of washing hands and disinfecting surfaces, the normal stuff.

Other than keeping clean, there doesn't seem to be too much you can do to protect yourself until this dies down. Health officials are doing all they can to stop the spreading of this fatal fungus.