Malassezia Yeastsas Commensals on Human Skin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5644/Radovi.400Keywords:
Malassezia, species, healthy skinAbstract
Yeasts of the genus Malassezia are known to be members of the skin microflora of humans and other warm-blooded animals. Under the influence of predisposing factors, they become pathogenic and are associated with several skin disorders and even systemic infections. The taxonomy of these lipophilic yeasts has recently been modified and includes seven species referred as Malassezia. The aim of this study was to analyse the prevalence of Malassezia species in normal skin and assess the distribution of the species according to patient sex and age. Forty subjects with clinically healthy skin were studied. The samples were obtained by scraping the skin surface of the scalp of all subjects and then incubated on modified Dixon agar. The yeasts isolated were identified by their morphological and physiological properties according to Guillot et al method. M. sympodialis was the predominant species on trunk skin and M. restricta on scalp skin. We found no differences between isolated species and the sex and age of the individuals.
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