Isolation and Identification of Malassezia Species in the Dandruff of Married Couples / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the distribution and the constitution of the Malassezia genus in the dandruff of married couples and the c oincidence of the Malassezia species between the husbands and their wives,especially in the couples who always share the same comb in their daily lif e.Methods Each dandruff sample collected from 114married couples was divided into three parts and inocu lated in Leeming and Notman medium,Dixon mediumand the mediumcontaini ng rapeseed oil.The yeasts obtained fromthe cultures were identified based on the biochemical and morphological characteristics.The duration from i noculation of dandruff to the primary colony development of Malassezia genus and the species constitution o f Malassezia were compared among above three medi a.The relationship between the severity of the dandruff and the rate of isolation of the Malassezia species was also studied.Results Among 228persons,Malassezia was isolated from153persons' dandruff(67.11%).There was a correlation between the positive rate of cultivation and the severity of dandruff.Totally 5species were identified from 459strains of the genus Malassezia obtained from three kinds of media me ntioned above,including M.sympodialis(33.33%),M.globosa(25.05%),M.restricta(15.47%),M.furfur (13.73%)and M.obtusa(12.42%).No species difference was noticed i n the three kinds of culture media,bu t the colony of Malassezia grew faster in the medium containing rapeseed oil(average 5.95days)than the other two media.One species from the same dandruff sample was isolated in three media in 129persons(56.58%),while 24persons(10.53%)isolated two species.The positive cultivation rate of Malassezia from the dandruff of the couples who s haring the same comb (64.00%)was higher than that of the others(20.51%).Among the couples those who had the s ame species(35.96%)of Malassezia was obviously higher than those who h ad different species(13.16%).The species identity was 50.67%in those who shared the sam e comb,which was higher than in those who did not(7.69%).Conclusion The major species of Malassezia in dandruff are M.sympodialis and M.globosa.The consistency of the Malassezia species isolated in the couples,esp ecially in the couples sharing the sa me comb is higher than that of the other cou-ples.These pathogens may be spread f rom person to person by dandruff,thr ough household utensils,such as com b.