There have been several reports which assessed the activity of antifungals including azoles on Malassezia furfur by agar dilution method. However, they did not differentiate M. furfur into groups. In addition, the media for growth and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determination, incubation temperature and length of incubation differed from each other.

The aim of this study was to test the antifungal activities of miconazole, clotrimazole, ketoconazole and itraconazole by determining MICs for M. furfur serovars A, B and C for these drugs.

MICs were determined by the agar dilution method. Leeming & Notman's Malassezia furfur agar medium was used.

In all strains of serovars A, B and C, the MICs for miconazole were similar to those for clotrimazole ; MICs for ketoconazole were also similar to those for itraconazole ; MICs for miconazole or clotrimazole were higher than those for ketoconazole or itraconazole.

The results suggested that ketoconazole or itraconazole could be used more effectively than miconazole or clotrimazole for the treatment of the diseases caused by M. furfur.