Candida auris was first described in 2009 after it was isolated from the ear canal of a 70-year-old Japanese woman at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital in Japan.

[6][7] [11][12] A brief outline of its clinical relevance as of 2016[update], understandable by general audiences, was published by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

[14] In October 2023, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto published a study which proved that hydrogen peroxide is extremely effective at killing C. auris in hospital surfaces, preventing it from spreading.

[6][19] The C. auris genome was found to encode several genes for the ABC transporter family, a major facilitator superfamily, which helps to explain its multiple drug resistance.

[6] Its genome also encodes virulence-related gene families such as lipases, oligopeptide transporters, mannosyl transferases and transcription factors which facilitate colonization, invasion, and iron acquisition.

[6] More studies are needed to determine whether the phylogenetic divergence of C. auris clones exhibits region-specific patterns of invasiveness, virulence, and/or drug resistance.

[23] Chatterjee et al. wrote in 2015, "Its actual global distribution remains obscure as the current commercial methods of clinical diagnosis misidentify it as C. haemulonii.

"[6] Candida auris was first described in 2009 after it was isolated from the ear canal of a 70-year-old Japanese woman at the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital in Japan.

[25] Notably, the isolates initially were misidentified as Candida haemulonii and Rhodotorula glutinis using standard methods, until sequence analysis correctly identified them as C. auris.

[25] These first cases emphasize the importance of accurate species identification and timely application of the correct antifungal for the effective treatment of candidiasis with C. auris.

[26] The Indian researchers wrote in 2013 that C. auris was much more prevalent than published reports indicate since most diagnostic laboratories do not use sequence-based methods for strain identification.

[29] As of 31 August 2019[update] the number of cases of people having contracted C. auris in the United States had risen to 806, with 388 reported in New York, 137 in New Jersey and 227 in Illinois, according to the CDC.

Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD, and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology chair at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health stated: What this study suggests is this is the beginning of fungi adapting to higher temperatures, and we are going to have more and more problems as the century goes on.

[34] Shortages of personal protective equipment forced medical personnel to reuse of gowns and masks during the pandemic, which has contributed to the fungi's spread.

[35] Research published in Annals of Internal Medicine tracking the spread of Candida auris from 2019 through 2021 revealed the fungus was present in over half of American states.