Resumen

RODRIGUEZ-VALERO, Sofía et al. Phenotypic characterization of species of Malassezia in healthy skin of an university student population.. Invest. clín [online]. 2005, vol.46, n.4, pp.329-335. ISSN 0535-5133.

The yeasts of the Malassezia genus are part of the normal skin of man and other vertebrates. The description of new species for this genus has induced on their study in several countries. For this reason, is important to do research in order to get epidemiologic data about Malassezia species in tropical countries like Venezuela, where the new Malassezia species have not been reported This study was made on healthy skin of a university student population. The samples were taken from different body areas and inoculated in Dixon modified medium and Sabouraud dextrose agar medium e incubated at 32°C. The identification was achieved following the key of species described by Gueho et al. and the tween diffusion test proposed by Guillot et al. In this investigation the isolated specie was M. furfur, corresponding the major positive percentage to the age group from 16 to 20 years old (66.7%). The presence of Malassezia was predominant on shoulder and chest (33.3% and 26.6%). There were not found significant differences between the evaluated groups, as was demonstrated by the applied statistical tests, exact Fisher’s test and Chi square test. It is important to continue the investigations on other age groups, in order to establish the prevalent species in our region and evaluate their pathogenic potential

Palabras clave : Lipophylic yeast; Malassezia; identification; characterization phenotypic.