VARIATIONS OF PITYROSPORUM-ORBICULARE IN MIDDLE-AGED AND ELDERLY INDIVIDUALS

  • 1 January 1988
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 68  (6) , 537-540
Abstract
Pityrosporum orbiculare was cultured from clinically normal skin in 60 adults, 30 to 80 years of age. Antibody titers against P. orbiculare in serum and lipid measurements were also estimated. There was a parallel between a reduction in number of cultured organisms and an increase in age (p=0.002, multiple linear regression analysis). The lipid content of the skin in older people was lower than that in young and middle age (p=0.0002). This may be an explantation for the decrease in number of P. orbiculare on the skin in elderly individuals. Antibody titres decreased significantly as age increased (p=0.02). One explanation may be a reduced sitmulation of the immune syste due to a drop in the number of organisms.

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