PVM Team Members Contribute to CDC Study on Invasive Mold Disease Surveillance

PVM is proud to have supported a large, CDC-led research team on a new study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Surveillance Summaries — one of CDC's flagship public health publications. Brian Jester, Eddie Mata, and Hannah Zenas of PVM, past and present, are listed as co-authors on the report, alongside colleagues from CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, the Georgia Emerging Infections Program, Emory University School of Medicine, and the Atlanta VA Medical Center.

About the Study

The report, "Active Surveillance for Invasive Mold Disease — Four Hospitals, Atlanta, Georgia, 2020–2024," summarizes five years of findings from CDC's active, laboratory-based surveillance system for invasive mold disease (IMD) — a group of rare but life-threatening fungal infections that primarily affect people with weakened immune systems.

Because IMD is not a nationally notifiable condition, establishing reliable baseline data is critical for distinguishing everyday sporadic cases from potential health care–associated outbreaks. This study set out to close that gap.

Key Findings

Drawing on data from four Atlanta-area hospitals and their outpatient clinics, the surveillance team identified:

• 968 potential IMD cases reviewed over the study period, of which 449 (46%) were confirmed as invasive mold disease
• A 90-day all-cause mortality rate of 45%, rising to 66% among patients with a current or recent COVID-19 diagnosis
• Pulmonary infections as the most common presentation (68% of cases), most frequently caused by Aspergillus species
• More than one-third of confirmed cases (35%) occurred in patients without classic host risk factors — a finding with real implications for how clinicians and surveillance programs identify at-risk patients

Why It Matters

The study's authors note that these findings can serve as benchmark data for future IMD surveillance efforts in health care settings nationwide, helping clinicians and public health officials more quickly distinguish sporadic infections from emerging outbreaks — and ultimately supporting earlier diagnosis and treatment for a disease with historically high mortality.

Supporting Public Health Surveillance

This work reflects the kind of applied public health surveillance PVM is proud to support: taking complex clinical, laboratory, and epidemiological data and helping translate it into insights that protect patients and strengthen the nation's ability to detect and respond to infectious disease threats.

Congratulations to the full CDC-led author team on this important contribution to the field.

Read the full study: MMWR Surveillance Summaries, Vol. 75, No. 5

Citation: Sajewski ET, Mackey C, Thomas S, et al. Active Surveillance for Invasive Mold Disease — Four Hospitals, Atlanta, Georgia, 2020–2024. MMWR Surveill Summ 2026;75(SS-5):1–19.