Prospective study of pityriasis versicolor incidence in a population of the city of Santo André (state of São Paulo)

: The authors studied prospectively the incidence of pityriasis versicolor (PV) in the population of Santo Andre, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, researching Malassezia furfur on the skin of suspected cases. They consider M. furfur as the only etiologic agent for PV diagnosed by the "cellophane tape" method (Porto, 1953). The work registered 132 positive cases (3.1%) in 4,267 examined people. The study revealed a bigger incidence in males (4.34%, among the negroes (4,475) and in the group between 10 and 15 (4,205). As M. furfur is an opportunistic agent, the authors emphasized that it is of great interest not only for cutaneous pathology, but also for the study of systemic infections, mainly in children with low immunity.