Occurrence of Malassezia Spp. on Healthy Human Skin

Abstract The genus Malassezia currently includes seventeen species that have been isolated from healthy and diseased human and other animal skin. Malassezia are implicated in a range of cutaneous diseases in humans: pityriasis versicolor, atopic or seborrheic dermatitis, dandruff, folliculitis and psoriasis. The outbreak of the disease depends on the interaction between the host immune system and Malassezia species. Malassezia stimulates both the cellular and humoral immune response in humans. Although Malassezia species have been associated with various dermatological diseases in people, the detailed pathological role of Malassezia remains obscured. Malassezia yeasts require lipids for their growth and therefore to a greater extent they colonize the sites with more sebaceous glands. The ecosystem on skin is complex and its balance depends on several factors. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of Malassezia yeasts in clinically normal skin of 42 healthy, randomly selected individuals of different ages. In the group of people examined, up to 30 persons (71.4 %) represented by children, adults and the elderly were positive to Malassezia yeasts. It has been shown that the back is an area with a higher incidence (66.7 %) of observed yeast compared to the head (40.5 %).