Now that CRISPR is out in the wild, anyone can modify anything in any way they want. Literally. For less than $1k you can modify living species genes in your kitchen. That's the reality of modern genetics technology.

That being said, the nature of the epidemic suggests that it was introduced intentionally across the globe. It popped up in different countries all at once, rather than spreading from an epicenter. That's not how natural organisms spread.

"... the strains were genetically different on different continents"

This suggests that teams of terrorists working in different regions shared information and independently produced strains using the same protocols, rather than simply produced one strain and released it in different places. As I said, with CRISPR, this is less expensive than transporting virulent pathogens would be.

Finally, a true thing about highly modified organisms is that they are generally unfit, in terms of competition with other species in refugia. Ebola and Warburg aren't very common because there aren't refugia species that hold a reservoir of them awaiting unsuspecting victims to be infected. C. auris is likely similar in that every environment that could harbor them is already occupied by species that outcompete it.

It's only strength competing with other species for niches is it's virulence, which is a weakness in interspecific competition.

Lastly, CRISPR, while seeming to engender the apocalypse by letting every psychopath with a spare grand and an empty broom closet manufacture superbugs, also potentiates every biohacker making vaccines against them, and finding new antibiotics too. Given the scarcity of psychopaths, and the very common presence of heroes and good folks in the population, this is a lop-sided battle. The good people will win, because there's at least ten times more of them than there are psychopaths.

I am encouraged that good hygiene is seemingly the best preventative for many virulent pathogens. Another potential solution to the problem of hospitals spreading infections is copper. Using copper to line countertops, coat tools, etc., prevents species that can survive autoclaving from persisting, because they cannot persist on copper substrates. Copper is pretty cheap, and makes it easy to keep surfaces clean of infectious organisms.

Thanks for your incessant quest for the truth, and for sharing what you find of it here!