Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

    Malassezia is a lipophilic fungus which has different species. Some of them can be found as a natural flora on skin and in an opportunistic condition may cause pityriasis versicolor. The present study was undertaken to identify, diagnose and determine the prevalence of different species of malassezia in patients referred to laboratory of medical mycology at the University of Shiraz during 12-month period. Out of 185 patients suspected to have pityriasis versicolor, only 98 patients were diagnosed to have it. Among these patients, 56 were female (51.4%) and 42 were male (55.3%). Patients’ age ranged between 13 to 55 with average of 25.78 years. Dixon Agar media was used for sample culture and in addition to morphological study, other tests such as Tween absorbance, catalase and esculin hydrolysis were performed to separate different species of malassezia including malassezia furfur (34%), malassezia slooffiae (18.7%), malassezia sympodialis (18.6%), malassezia globosa (17.59%), malassezia pakidermatis (5.4%) and malassezia restrikta (4.3%) from different parts of the body. Factors such as: age, sex, job, education, the use of pool, season of the year and geographic region were also evaluated by using different statistical methods such as: chi-squared test, Fisher & T-test. Results revealed that the use of pool and season of the year were the effective causes of the disease.