Background The fungus Paracoccidioides lutzii was recently included as a new causative species of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM) and most cases have been reported from Brazil. According to available epidemiological information, P . lutzii is concentrated in the Middle-West region in Brazil, mainly in the state of Mato Grosso. However, clinical and laboratorial data available on patients infected with P . lutzii remain extremely limited. Methodology/Main findings This work describes the clinical manifestations of 34 patients suffering from PCM caused by P . lutzii , treated along 5 years (2011–2017) at a reference service center for systemic mycoses in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Adult rural workers (men), aged between 28 and 67 predominated. All patients had the chronic form of the disease, and the oral mucosa (n = 19; 55.9%), lymph nodes (n = 23; 67.7%), skin (n = 16; 47.1%) and lung (n = 28; 82.4%) were the most affected sites. Alcohol intake (n = 19; 55.9%) and smoking (n = 29; 85.3%) were frequent habits among the patients. No patient suffered from any other life-threatening disease, such as tuberculosis, cancer or other inflammatory or infectious parasitic diseases. The positivity in culture examination (97.1%) was higher than that found for the direct mycological examination (88.2%). Particularly, one patient presented fungemia at diagnosis, which lead to his death. The time elapsed between the initial symptoms and the initiation of treatment of PCM caused by P . lutzii was 19.7 (31.5) months, with most patients diagnosed 7 months after the symptoms’ onset. Conclusions/Significance Compared with the classical clinical-epidemiological profile of PCM caused by P . brasiliensis , the results of this descriptive study did not show significant clinical or epidemiological differences that could be attributed to the species P . lutzii . Future studies may confirm or refute the existence of clinical differences between the two fungal species.

This study examined the association between oral candidiasis in elderly users and nonusers of prosthesis and its predisposing factors. To this end, we performed a cross-sectional study where saliva samples from 48 patients were collected they used prosthesis and 43 patients (control group) who did not use. Among the 91 patients, Candida spp were isolated in 40 (83.3%) who used prosthesis and in 23 (53.5%) in the control group. A statistically significant association was determined between the two groups, the isolation of yeasts and dental prosthesis (p < 0.05, OR = 4.3). The most common etiological agent was Candida albicans (37 isolates), with 23 (62.2%) in the denture group and 14 (37.8%) (control group). Among patients who presented clinical manifestations of oral candidiasis (n = 24), 83.3% (n = 20) belonged to the group that wore dentures, while only 16.7% (n = 4) belonged to the control group. Elderly patients with diabetes had 4.4 times higher estimated risk of developing oral candidiasis when compared with individuals without this condition. There was no statistically significant association between being user prostheses and have diabetes with the onset of candidiasis. No statistically significant association was determined between xerostomia, use of prosthesis and oral candidiasis. The use of prosthetics and poor oral hygiene in elderly patients predisposes to the development of oral candidiasis.

Birds of prey and from Psittacidae family are host to fungal microbiota and play an important role in the epidemiology of zoonoses. Few studies in the literature have characterized mycelial and yeast fungi in the droppings of these birds and correlated the isolates with the zoonotic potential of the microorganisms. Droppings from 149 birds were evaluated and divided into two groups: captive: Rhea americana araneipes, Primolius maracana, Ara ararauna, Ara chloropterus, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, Amazona aestiva, Ara macao macao, Ramphastos toco, Sarcoramphus papa, Busarellus nigricollis, Bubo virginianus nacurutu, Buteogallus coronatus, Buteogallus urubitinga urubitinga, Spizaetus melanoleucus, Spizaetus ornatus ornatus, Buteo albonotatus, Geranoaetus albicaudatus albicaudatus, Rupornis magnirostris magnirostris and Harpia harpyja, and quarantined birds: Amazona aestiva and Eupsitulla aurea. The fungal isolates were identified according to macroscopic (gross colony appearance), micromorphological and biochemical characteristics. Among birds displayed in enclosures, Aspergillus niger (41.1%) and Candida kefyr (63.8%) were the fungi most frequently isolated in Harpia harpyja and Ramphastos toco, respectively. For quarantined birds, the following percentages were observed in Eupsittula aurea , (76.6%) C. krusei, (84.4%) C. kefyr and (15.2%) C. famata, while in Amazona aestiva, (76.2%) C. krusei was observed. These findings indicate potentially pathogenic species in the bird droppings assessed, which constitute a risk of exposure for keepers and individuals who visit the zoo. Birds of the Cerrado and Pantanal of Mato Grosso (Central Western region of Brazil) could act in the epidemiological chain of important zoonoses.

We conducted this cross-sectional retrospective study using clinical and laboratory data from two tertiary hospitals in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil, in order to explore the risk factors and estimate mortality, prevalence and lethality of candidemia between 2006 and 2011. A total of 130 episodes of candidemia were identified. The prevalence of candidemia was 1.8 per 1,000 admissions, the mortality rate was 0.9 per 1,000 admissions, and the lethality was 49.2 %. The main agent in this population was Candida parapsilosis (n = 50), followed by C. albicans (n = 45). Comparison between the numbers of episodes in the two triennia revealed that the non-albicans group grew by 48.2 %. The distribution of yeast species of Candida per hospital unit revealed that C. albicans was more prevalent than C. parapsilosis in the adult ICU and C. parapsilosis was more prevalent than C. albicans in the neonatal ICU. Patients remained hospitalized for an average of 53.5 days. Central venous catheters, parenteral nutrition and age were the variables that proved to be independent in the multivariate analysis and that maintained a statistically significant association with the incidence of death in patients with candidemia. The annual prevalence of candidemia showed a significant increase in the second triennium (2009-2011) compared with the first (2006-2008) probably due to increased exposure to risk factors: central venous catheter, H2 blockers, nutrition parenteral corticosteroids and mean hospital duration.