As 2025 ends, more and more people are falling ill. With a surge in flu cases, and mystery disease like adenovirus, thousands of people are already infected. Now, a deadly fungus, also considered a superbug due to its resistance to all types of antibiotics. This is Candida auris.

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What Is Candida Auris? The Superbug Resisting All Antibiotics

It is a type of invasive fungus that can cause deadly infections in people, especially with weakened immune system. As of now, it has infected at least 7,000 people across 27 US states, confirmed the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The fungus can spread easily in healthcare settings, especially in hospitals and nursing homes. It is also spreading at an "alarming" rate, says CDC. The Hill reported that some strains of the fungus are troublesome because they are resistant to all types of antibiotics that are commonly used to treat fungal infections.

Due to fungus's resistance to antibiotics, it is becoming difficult to contain. As of now, more than half of the states have reported clinical cases of Candida auris in 2025. Another factor that makes it more dangerous is that standard lab tests cannot detect it. In a CDC press release, a CDC epidemiologist Dr Meghan Lyman said, "The rapid rise and geographic spread of cases is concerning and emphasizes the need for continued surveillance, expanded lab capacity, quicker diagnostic tests, and adherence to proven infection prevention and control."

Origins Of Candida Auris - The Superbug

This was first discovered in 2009 in Japan from the ear canal of a patient. Since then, it has spread to many countries, including India, where it was identified as a major public health threat in 2014.

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Can Anyone Fight Off This Superbug?

Healthy people could possibly fight off this infection on their own. However, the population vulnerable could find it more difficult to fight off this deadly fungus. Melissa Nolan, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina told Nexstar, "If you get infected with this pathogen that’s resistant to any treatment, there’s no treatment we can give you to help combat it. You’re all on your own."

Like the mystery disease, adenovirus, this fungus too can survive on surfaces, said Nolan. “It’s really good at just being, generally speaking, in the environment. So if you have it on a patient’s bed for example, on the railing, and you go to wipe everything down, if in whatever way maybe a couple of pathogens didn’t get cleared, then they’re becoming resistant. And so over time, they can kind of grow and populate in that hospital environment," said Nolan.

Is This Superbug Only Limited To The US?

Studies show that this superbug is not just limited to the US, but is spreading globally. It has already been found in at least 61 countries and on 6 continents. The study also found that the fungus is becoming more and more drug resistant, all due to its ability to switch from a yeast-like growth to a filament-driven spread. It also contains a cell wall that has proteins and makes it easier to stick on human skin "like glue". This is what enables it to colonize the human cells.

Tech giant Amazon’s cloud unit has launched a new AI-powered application, Amazon Bio Discovery, that will help scientists design and test novel drugs more quickly, bringing new medical treatments to patients faster.

Developed by Amazon Web Services, the new agentic AI application—a smart assistant that automates complex tasks—helps scientists select the right models for their research goals, optimize the inputs, and evaluate candidates for experimentation.

"AI agents make powerful scientific capabilities accessible to all drug researchers, not just those with computational expertise," said Rajiv Chopra, vice president of AWS Healthcare AI and Life Sciences.

"These AI systems can help scientists design drug molecules, coordinate testing, learn from results, and get smarter with each experiment. This combination of cutting-edge AI and the robust, secure infrastructure AWS has built for regulated industries allows scientists to accelerate antibody discovery in ways that weren't possible before," Chopra added.

How Amazon Bio Discovery Will Help Boost Drug Discovery

With the help of Amazon Bio Discovery, scientists can run complex computational workflows ‌without writing code.

Notably, the platform also gives scientists direct access to a broad catalog of specialized AI models called biological foundation models (bioFMs) that are trained on vast biological datasets. These models generate and evaluate potential drug molecules, known as candidates, helping scientists accelerate antibody therapies during the early stages of drug discovery.

Also read: India Must Integrate Technology To Build Preventive, Holistic Healthcare: Experts

Amazon Bio Discovery also enables scientists to securely feed prior experimental data from their organization's lab results into the application. They can use their own lab data to train custom models with just a few clicks—no need to build complex training pipelines or write custom code.

Amazon Bio Discovery also provides three key capabilities:

• a benchmarked library of AI models and analysis packages,
• an AI agent that helps researchers design experiments,
• integrated lab partners that test the most promising antibody candidates and route results back to the scientists.

Amazon Bio Discovery: Early adopters

Amazon Bio Discovery provides complete data isolation and gives customers ownership over all their proprietary data and intellectual property.

According to AWS, Bayer, the Broad Institute, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, and Voyager Therapeutics are among early adopters, and 19 of the top 20 ‌global pharmaceutical ⁠companies already use its cloud services.

In a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, AWS said the platform used multiple models to generate nearly 300,000 novel antibody molecules and narrow them to 100,000 candidates for lab testing by partner Twist Bioscience, compressing work that can take months ⁠into weeks.

Surging AI Adoption in Drug Development

Drugmakers and technology companies have stepped up efforts to use AI to accelerate drug development.

Recently, Danish pharmaceuticals group Novo Nordisk, maker of the popular Ozempic and Wegovy anti-obesity drugs, announced a "strategic partnership" with OpenAI to accelerate the development of new medications.

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Novo Nordisk is banking heavily on AI to test new treatments and vaccines and bring them to market faster for less money.

In 2024, Boston Consulting Group ⁠and Merck announced GenAI Collaboration with Merck. The collaboration will initially focus on disease networks and pathways for chronic and degenerative diseases.

Diabetes patients rely upon metformin for controlling their blood sugar and insulin levels. Now, a new study claims that this common diabetes drug has many other health benefits to offer, and these can mimic the benefits of 'intense workouts.' The diabetes drug metformin is used by millions around the world who are struggling with this lifestyle disorder—it releases weight-regulating compounds in the body, the same ones that are released during workouts in inactive people. American scientists found that the drug can have a positive impact on a sedentary lifestyle—find out how.

What is metformin?

Metformin is the most common drug for the management of type 2 diabetes. It helps insulin work better, thereby regulating blood sugar spikes. This drug is usually prescribed when diet and workouts alone are not sufficient for weight management. According to a study by experts at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, metformin may replicate the benefits of workouts in people who follow a sedentary, inactive lifestyle. In the case of prostate cancer patients, men who do not work out because of their treatment benefited from metformin use, as the drug raises levels of a molecule that supports weight loss. In the case of patients who cannot work out properly, the effect can be game-changing.

Are workouts necessary during cancer treatment?

Exercising is one of the best ways to avoid obesity and other metabolic disorders. It is also one of the best ways to stay strong during cancer treatment, as it regulates weight, heart health, and blood sugar. This helps cancer patients feel stronger even during treatment and recovery. However, many cancer patients cannot work out regularly because of hormone therapy-related fatigue. Metformin use, in this case, can prove helpful for patients.

How does metformin mimic the benefits of workouts?

Exercising benefits the body by releasing hormones such as oxytocin and dopamine. Researchers from the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center explored whether these could be triggered without exercise and whether metformin could do that. They noted that while the drug cannot fully replace workouts as part of a healthy routine, there is a need to understand how a widely used drug can be beneficial for metabolic health during prostate cancer treatment.

N-lactoyl-phenylalanine, or Lac-Phe, is a molecule that spikes after an intense workout session, and it also regulates appetite and calorie burning. Scientists found that Lac-Phe levels were higher in metformin users even when they were not working out. The Sylvester team noted that prostate cancer patients often struggle with poor blood sugar control, heart disease risk, and weight gain due to hormone therapy. They then took blood samples from 29 people and found that the patients who took metformin had similar Lac-Phe levels to people who were engaged in strenuous workouts. This was noted even when the patients were not exercising. However, metformin did not have an impact on prostate tumours.

The study was published in the EMBO Molecular Medicine journal.

In an alarming incident, more than 330 children in Pakistan have contracted HIV due to reuse of syringes in a hospital in Pakistan’s Punjab, according to a report.

The report, based on an undercover investigation by BBC News, highlighted blatant infection control failures and unsafe medical practices at THQ Hospital Taunsa in Pakistan.

The failures captured on camera, filmed over 32 hours inside THQ Taunsa Hospital in late 2025, showcase persistent unsafe practices, including the reuse of syringes on multi-dose vials, that have infected more than 330 children with HIV since late 2024.

The footage captured multiple violations of basic hygiene protocols, including the staff reusing syringes on multi-dose medicine vials, which increases the risk of contaminating entire batches of medication. In several instances, the same vial was then used to treat different children, the report said.

Other scenes captured included poor sanitation conditions, such as open vials, used needles left on countertops, and improper disposal of medical waste; staff administering injections without sterile gloves, further increasing the risk of cross-contamination.

Pakistan HIV Cases: Previous Outbreak In Southern Sindh

The incident in Taunsa is not the first. In 2019, media reports cited nearly 1,000 children testing positive for HIV due to the reuse of needles in southern Sindh province.

“Pakistan has experienced a series of HIV outbreaks over the past two decades, but we’ve never before seen this many young children infected or so many health facilities involved," Dr Fatima Mir from the Aga Khan University in Pakistan, told The Guardian. She was the lead author of the paper published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, which also reported the cases.

“Use of syringes and needles is widespread, and Pakistan has one of the highest rates of unsafe injections in the world. Health practitioners need to use intravenous treatment only when necessary, use needles only once, and screen blood for infections before using it for transfusions,” she added.

The India Case: Thalassemic Children Infected With HIV

In 2025, a dozen children undergoing blood transfusions for thalassemia contracted HIV in two different incidents in India's Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, highlighting “systemic lapses in blood bank regulations”.

At least six children were found HIV positive at Satna district hospital in Madhya Pradesh, allegedly due to contaminated blood transfusions at the district hospital during treatment for thalassemia.

The children affected include five boys aged under 11 and a nine-year-old girl who have been undergoing blood transfusions at the hospital.

Another six children with thalassemia reportedly contracted HIV from contaminated blood transfusions at a government hospital in the West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

Safe Injection Practices: What Is Recommended

The World Health Organization (WHO) mandates the use of single-use, safety-engineered syringes—specifically auto-disable (AD) or reuse-prevention (RUP) devices—to prevent disease transmission and needle-stick injuries.

These devices automatically lock or break after one use and are essential for immunization and medication administration.

The US CDC recommends using single-dose vials whenever possible, over multiple-dose vials, especially when medications will be administered to multiple patients.

Do not administer medications from a syringe to multiple patients, even if the needle or cannula on the syringe is changed.