This increasingly prevalent fungal infection is resistent to all known treatments, killing at least 1/2 of patients affected (admittedly, ones apt to be more sick than average.)

Though understandable from a business POV, it's humanly deeply troubling not to have access to information about whether or not a hospital where you are planning to undergo treatment/surgery is one of the "hotspots".

New York State alone (they say they hope other states will follow suit) now requires disclosure about which facilities there are so affected.

It would certainly factor for me in deciding where to undergo surgery, especially a major procedure.

When I was considering where to undergo major spinal surgery a few years ago, I decided against a very well-reputed surgeon after discovering that his facility was noted for a high rate of MRSA. (By dint of online searching, I had finally located a Medicare site which identified which ones they were - also FWIW other hallmarks of best practice patient care and outcomes.)

Since at the time I consulted him, his plan of action was to put me in an induced coma for up to ten days between the (then) two-part surgery - first a posterior, then an anterior approach - this mattered a LOT to me. When I asked the surgeon if that wouldn't leave me extra susceptible to infection - one of the main risks of my surgery - he did not answer clearly. Finding his hospital was one of the most infection-prone was, of course, the last straw.

Since then, this Candida Auris plague has surfaced internationally - exploded, really - but except (now) in NY, without patients' ability to choose facilities accordingly. Ironically, it first hit the news only in relation to 16 Americans who contracted it in a Mexican hospital (presumably they had gone there to economize). To date, though, one is still left in the dark about prevalence in other hospitals (and nursing homes) right in the US.

(This matters to me especially since I've looking into a revision spinal surgery! Something about the extensive hardware used in fusion ops, makes patients extra susceptible to infections. Definitely, a matter of sauve qui peut for now!)

Hope hospitals everywhere will soon be pressured by public opinion to disclose stats about their infection records! Journalism at its best helps...

NY Candida Auris most infected hospitals

About Candida Auris (and its spreading)