(NEXSTAR) – The number of Candida auris infections reported to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention this year has nearly tripled in the past three and a half months as health care providers struggle to contain the the drug-resistant and deadly fungus.

At the end of April, the CDC had recorded 1,052 Candida auris. By Aug. 9, the last week of available data, the total number of cases had grown to 2,809 cases across 21 states, surpassing the number of cases we saw at this time last year.

Candida auris, also called C. auris, was first identified in the U.S. fewer than 10 years ago. Since then, the number of cases have increased every year. The CDC has considered the fungus “an urgent antimicrobial resistance threat” because it has developed ways to defeat the drugs that are designed

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