A patient returning from a trip to tropical Africa comes to his physician noting scaly patches of skin along the waistband, which are lighter in color than his normal skin.A skin scraping reveals budding yeast and short septate hyphal elements, with some branching present.This organism, shown below, is most likely:

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The M.furfur complex causes tinea versicolor, a disease characterized by patchy lesions or scaling of varying pigmentation.M.furfur may be identified by visualizing skin scrapings from characteristic lesions in a potassium hydroxide preparation or by observing yellow fluorescence with a Wood's lamp upon examination of the infected body site.Microscopic examination of the direct smear in potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparations reveals budding yeasts, approximately 4 to 8 mm, along with septate, sometimes branched, hyphal elements.The microscopic appearance has gained M.furfur the term "the spaghetti and meatballs" fungus.CDC PHIL #2916

A Patient Returning from a Trip to Tropical Africa Comes