Description
Colonies Appearance
Malassezia furfur
large, pale pink and wrinkled
Other Malassezia spp including M. globosa & M. restricta
mostly pink to purple
Performance
Malassezia is a fungi naturally found on animal skins. On normal healthy skin it does not cause infections, but when the environment of the skin is altered, Malassezia species are able to cause several cutaneous diseases as severe dermatitis or otitis (inflammation of the skin or ears respectively).
Since members of the genus Malassezia share similar morphological and biochemical characteristics, the use of traditional culture media for differentiating them based on phenotypic features is not suitable. CHROMagar™ Malassezia was developed with the goal of facilitating not only their detection, but also to improve an algorithm for the differentiation of the most common species.
(see : Revised Culture-Based System for Identification of Malassezia Species, par Takamasa et al. JCM No-2007)