Deadly drug-resistant Candida auris fungus detected in 27 US states

Scientists at the CDC, the group that keeps Americans healthy, have found a tiny germ called Candida auris in 27 states in the United States.

It is a fungus, a bit like the yeast used to make bread, but this one can make very sick people even sicker.

It mostly spreads in hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities, where people are already very ill.

You don't catch it from the air; you get it by touching a person who has it or touching things like doorknobs and bedrails that have the germ on them.

Most healthy kids and grown-ups don't need to worry, because their bodies can fight it off.

People with weak immune systems, or who are in the hospital with tubes and catheters, can get very sick from it.

The fungus is dangerous because many of the medicines doctors use to stop fungus don't work on it, which is called being 'drug-resistant.'

This year, fewer people got sick from it than last year, which is good news.

Doctors say that washing hands well and putting infected patients in private rooms can help stop it from spreading.