Background: Nakaseomyces glabratus (N. glabratus) formerly known as Candida glabrata (C. glabrata), is an endogenous opportunistic pathogen, which is generally located in the gastrointestinal tract but can spread in immunocompromised patients. N. glabratus is the second most common pathogen that causes candidemia in several countries. N. glabratus virulence factors may increase antifungal resistance and reduce the number of available treatment options. High resistance to azoles and increasing resistance to echinocandins have been previously reported in N. glabratus.Objective: To establish the distribution of N. glabratus isolates in Europe and its drug susceptibility/resistance in each country over the last 7 years.Methods: The search was performed across three databases: PubMed, Scopus and Scielo, using the MeSH terms: “Candida glabrata”, “Nakaseomyces glabratus”, “Europe”, “resistance” and “Epidemiology” exclusively in English. All available information from January 2002 to December 2022 was included, excluding reviews, meta‐analyses and book chapters.Results: Fifty‐seven articles with information on antifungal susceptibility in Europe were retrieved and analysed with a total of 15,400 reported C. glabrata isolates. Remarkably, nations that presented the maximum number of cases during the study period included the United Kingdom (n = 7241, 47.02%), France (n = 3190, 20.71%), Spain (n = 900, 5.84%), Hungary (n = 745, 4.84%) and Italy (n = 486, 3.16%). C. glabrata isolates presented resistance to azoles [voriconazole (n = 2225, 14.45%), fluconazole (n = 1612, 10.47%), itraconazole (n = 337, 2.19%) and clotrimazole (n = 89, 0.58%)], increased resistance to echinocandins, especially to anidulafungin (n = 138, 0.89%), and high sensitivity to amphotericin B.Conclusions: The number of candidemia cases associated with triazole‐resistant N. glabratus isolates have been increasing in Europe. Therefore, echinocandins and amphotericin B can be considered optional empirical treatments; however, antifungal susceptibility testing is required to determine the best therapeutic options.

Malassezia, a skin saprophyte, is frequently isolated from patients with seborrheic dermatitis, which is one of the most common dermatoses in HIV-infected patients. Its role in pathophysiology has not been defined. To determine whether patients living with HIV and seborrheic dermatitis have more Malassezia than those without seborrheic dermatitis. This is an descriptive, observational, prospective cross-sectional study to which all adult patients living with HIV that attend the infectious disease outpatient clinic at the Dr. Manuel Gea González General Hospital were invited. Patients presenting with scale and erythema were included in Group 1, while patients without erythema were included in Group 2. Samples were taken from all patients for smear and culture. Thirty patients were included in each group. All patients with seborrheic dermatitis had a positive smear, with varying amounts of yeasts. In the control group, 36.7% of patients had a negative smear. The results are statistically significant, as well as the number of colonies in the cultures. Study limitations The study used a small sample size and the subspecies were not identified. Patients with clinical manifestations of seborrheic dermatitis have larger amounts of Malassezia. Further studies need to be performed to analyze if the greater amount is related to imbalances in the microbiota of the skin.

Syphilis is a systemic and sexually transmitted infection caused by Treponema pallidum ssp. pallidum. This spirochete causes different clinical and subclinical stages depending on the duration of infection and immune status of the host. Several tests have been developed for diagnosis, and are classified into direct and indirect methods. The first one includes dark field microscopy, direct fluorescent antibody test in fluids or tissue, and molecular biology techniques. In the indirect method (serologic), the routine tests are used, and are divided in two categories: non-treponemal and treponemal ones. The objective of this work was to identify T. pallidum ssp. pallidum in paraffin-embedded skin biopsies positive by immunohistochemistry, using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and quantitative real time PCR (qPCR). We included a sample of 17 paraffin-embedded biopsies. DNA was extracted and processed by conventional PCR and real-time PCR with a TaqMan® probe to identify the polA gene. Using PCR, 11 tested positive (64.7%) and 6 (35.3%) were negative. With qPCR and TaqMan® probe, 100% of samples tested positive. The minimum number of spirochetes detected in each sample was 2. With this work, we can conclude that qPCR is a fast and very accurate method for diagnosis of syphilis in tissue specimens.

The authors present seven cases of rhinocerebral mucormycosis associated to diabetes mellitus, which is a disease with epidemic proportions affecting individuals worldwide, particularly in developing countries, and which poses significant morbidity and mortality. Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection with high mortality and requires an invasive therapeutic approach to save the patient's life with significant morbidity and sequelae, thus prevention is crucial.