The deadly fungus spreading across the US left a mum looking ‘like a monster’ before she died.

 

Denise DuBarry died aged 63 after contracting the black fungus Candida auris while in hospital for care for another illness.

 

The fungus ‘colonises’ the patient’s skin before finding its way into the bloodstream through open wounds. If this happens there is a 30 to 60 percent mortality rate.

 

Cases have now appeared in 28 of the US’ 50 states with some badly hit regions such as Nevada, California and Florida seeing hundreds.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have described the alarming spread as “a serious global health threat”.

 

Ms DuBarry was an an actress who appeared in hit TV shows such as Charlie’s Angels, Days Of Our Lives and The Love Boat.

 

Her daughter, actress Samantha Lockwood, 40, told Daily Mail: “It was pretty horrific situation, to be brutally honest. Having seen my mom in such a state, I cannot even wish it on my worst enemy, what I saw

 

Her mum had been hospitalised in California with a sinus infection in March 2019. She was transferred to Loma Linda hospital where Ms Lockwood said she picked up the fungus.

 

A computer illustration of the fungus

A computer illustration of the fungus ( Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

Ms Lockwood said: “And when I saw her, one of her eyes was completely bugged out of her head. She’s a gorgeous woman. She looked like a monster. She was swollen with edema, she had tubes coming out of her throat, her tongue was swollen out of her face.”

 

The fungus is particularly dangerous to anyone with weakened immune systems and resists treatment by common anti-fungal medications.

 

 

 

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