IDENTIFICATION OF MALASSEZIA SPECIES AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH CLINICAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ATOPIC DERMATITIS

Abstract

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease that is characterized by an eczematous reaction. Few studies have investigated fungi in the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis, however, there are different about distribution of Malassezia species. Objectives: To indentificate of Malassezia species and its asociation with clinical manifestations in Vietnamese atopic dermatitis patient. Methods: 178 patients who were diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and had a postitive direct examination of Malassezia at the National hospital of dermatology and venereology between July 2019 and June 2020. Specimens were taken with cellotape, then stained in 20% of potassium hydroxit combined with ParkerTM blue black ink. All patient who had postive test were cultured on SDA and mDixon. For fungal samples, we selected pure colonies with morphological characteristics of yeast as follows about 1cm in diameter, round, cream or milky in color, smooth and glossy to detect the species. Results: From the samples of atopic dermatitis patients, we cultured and idenfified 41 cases. 5 species were found, in which M. globosa was the most common species, accounting for 39%, followed by M. restricta (19.5%), M. dermatis (17.1%), M. furfur (17.1%) and M. sympodialis (2.4%). Conclusion: On the skin lesions of Vietnamese patients with atopic dermatitis, M. globosa was the most common species with 39.0%.