Background: Many previous study reports over the years recorded the prevalence of different Malassezia species among various geographical conditions. Objective:To report the incidence of rarely isolated Malassezia japonica and also to identify its susceptibility towards essential oils and Ketoconazole. Methods: Flakes were collected by rubbing the swabs over the dandruff scalp.Malassezia spp were isolated by plating on ModifiedLeeming-Notman agar medium and Modified Dixon agar. Isolated Malassezia yeasts were further identified by PCR-RFLP and confirmed by DNA sequencing. Susceptibility testing was done by micro tube dilution method. Results: 60 isolates were taken from 45 subjects and among that one isolate is identified as Malassezia japonica and rest 50 other Malassezia isolates were reported separately. Susceptibility of the M.japonica ranges from 396.9 mcg/ml to 500 mcg/ml for the tested tea tree oil, geraniol, citronellol and for ketoconazole it is 3.12 mcg/ml. These tested essential oils can be considered as natural actives to manage dandruff.
