Table 3.

Results from culture-based epidemiological studies of healthy skin

Reference	No. of patients/no. of positive cultures	% of cultures positive for:							Culture mediuma	Location(s)	Description
		M. globosa	M. restricta	M. sympodialis	M. furfur	M. slooffiae	M. obtusa	M. dermatis
353	123/107	78	1	7	21				LNA	Iran	7% mixed species (>2 species isolated); percentages correspond to avg of 3 samplings/patient
238	60/38	28	32	29	5	1	1	4	LNA	South Korea	Variations in isolation of species according to age; variation, yet not significant, in isolation of species according to body part; M. restricta on the forehead, M. sympodialis and M. globosa on the chest
164	160/599 (960 samples)	22	22	12	4.5	2	0.5	2	LNA	South Korea	M. globosa and M. restricta were found more commonly in different age groups; M. restricta and M. globosa were found more commonly on the scalp; M. globosa and M. sympodialis were found more commonly on the trunk; mixed species were commonly isolated
254	40/32	40		20	17.5	2.5			mDA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Healthy trunk skin of seborrheic dermatitis patients
255	90/82	49		37	5.5				mDA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Healthy trunk skin of pityriasis versicolor patients, away from lesions; no association of the isolated species with sex, age, clinical appearance of pityriasis versicolor (hyper- or hypopigmented), duration of disease
135	245/172	32	1	57	6	3			LNA	Canada	Differences in isolation rates of species between age groups and body locations were recorded; no mixed species isolated
138	20/19	28	6	47	11	7.5			LNA	Canada	CFU was equivalent to that associated with pityriasis versicolor and significantly more than those for psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and atopic eczema
195	120 (600 samplings)/393	41	49	6	4	2			LNA	South Korea	M. restricta was more common on the forehead and in younger age groups (<50 yr old); M. globosa was more frequent in patients aged >50 yr
311	100/60	42	3	25	23	7			DA	Iran
277	31/26	12		69		4	15		LNA	Sweden	Mixed species were cultured in 11% of patients; healthy skin and seborrheic dermatitis skin were significantly more colonized than atopic eczema skin
228	105/52	42	2	21	6	2			DA	Japan	Two groups of healthy volunteers, i.e., 35 random volunteers and 73 medical school students; M. globosa, M. furfur, and M. sympodialis were isolated more frequently from scalp and face, but there was a low recovery rate for both groups studied; M. globosa and M. sympodialis were isolated from the trunks of healthy volunteers
275	35/11	49	8	23	20.5	2			mDA	Tunis	3 sampling sites per patient, more than 1 isolate per patient; frequency of M. globosa on pityriasis versicolor skin was significantly higher than that on healthy skin
171	58/37		19			50			CHROMagar Malassezia	Japan	Sampling of the external ear canal was performed; M. slooffiae was characterized as a specific isolate with increasing prevalence after the age of 30 yr

^aNA, Leeming-Notman agar; mDA, modified Dixon's agar; DA, Dixon's agar.