Reaffirming the importance of nomenclature stability for Candida auris and its associated disease of candidiasis

Abstract

We thank the authors for their interest in our paper advocating for the standardization of naming fungal pathogens and diseases. We acknowledge their proposal to rename the infection caused by Candida auris, following the proposal to rename the causal agent as Candidozyma auris, from “candidiasis” to “candidozosis” or “candidozymiasis,” based on the taxonomic and biological arguments presented in their letter.While we value this intriguing proposal, we believe that renaming Candida auris to Candidozyma auris, along with changing the associated disease name beyond candidiasis, is premature and not in the interests of users. Current fungal classifications are largely driven by DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis, but the materials selected for analysis and the methodologies used can vary considerably, raising questions about the reproducibility of taxonomic findings. The proposed reclassification of Candida auris to Candidozyma auris relies on a single study that examined only one strain of Candida auris (1); thus, the taxonomic finding in the paper lacks robustness due to insufficient sampling, a lack of phylogenetic analyses validated by other investigators, and unclear ecological distinctions. The authors of the study state that the name change is “officially reported”, but there is no regulating body for fungal taxonomy; this decision represents a conclusion by the authors of the paper and has not been debated by, for example, a Working Group (WG) of the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Fungi (ICTF).