الفهرس 
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Abstract
Background: Pityriasis versicolor (PV) is a common health problem caused by Malassezia. Identification of Malassezia by morphological and biochemical analyses. Molecular biological techniques are preferred as they are species-specific, more accurate and less time-consuming. Objective: Identify Malassezia species on skin of patients with PV and healthy individuals. Antifungal susceptibility testing was performed on isolated species. Methods:A case-control study including 100 individuals; 50 clinically suspected pityriasis versicolor patients attending Mansoura University Hospitals, Egypt and 50 healthy control individuals, was carried out. characterization of Malassezia species was performed phenotypically by conventional, culture-based methods, biochemical tests, and automated system. In addition, genomic DNA was extracted from isolated colonies for PCR amplification of the highly conserved 26S rDNA region with further species level identification by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism using Hha1 and FOK1 enzymes. The association of Malassezia species with epidemiological profile and clinical characteristics were evaluated. Results:A 84% of PV samples and 10% of control samples were positive by potassium hydroxide (KOH) while 78% of PV samples and 18% of control samples yielded growth in culture with statistical differences (p<0.001, for both methods). By phenotypic methods, isolates from patients were identified as: M. furfur (87.2%), and M. globosa (7.7%), while in healthy controls: M. furfur (77.8%), and M. globosa, (11.1%). By RFLP technique, M. furfur (89.7%), and M. globosa (10.3%), while in healthy controls: M. furfur (88.9%), and M. globosa, (11.1%). Highest proportion of sensitivity of Malassezia was detected to flucytosine, micafungin, caspofungin, voriconazole (100%) in both cases and control. Conclusion: Malassezia furfur and Malassezia globosa are the commonly encountered species in both PV patients and healthy human skin. PCR-RFLP method is considerably accurate technique in the identification of Malassezia.