Abstract
Incidence and morphology of Pityrosporum flora on clinically normal skin were examined on microscopy. In the normal skin of healthy volunteers and patients attending dermatology clinic with minor complaints, Piyrosporum orbiculare was found to be present on the forehead and chest in 292 (77.9%) of the 375 cases. Pityrosporum ovale was found to coexist with P. orbiculare in 7.2%. Marked clustering of P. orbiculare was present in 36.5% and finding of rods or filamentous forms similar to those seen in tinea versicolor was noticed in 13.0% on both sites. The incidence of age distribution showed the lowest in the age groups between one and nine year old. In 52 subjects of the newborn, P. orbiculare was found in 29 subjects (55.7%) and also seen to coexist with P. ovale in 11 (21.1%). P. orbiculare was observed in 37 (94.9%) of the 39 mothers of childbed. In strippings taken from the clinically normal skin of the forehead and chest of 9 patients with tinea versicolor, P. orbiculare was present in all of them. Considerable rods or filaments like those of Malassezia furfur were seen in all of the forehead and 6 of the 9 patients of the chest. Eighteen cases of strippings taken from clinically normal skin adjacent to lesions of tinea versicolor were examined. 10 of the 18 cases studied showed the predominant filaments with clusters of yeasts.
