ABSTRACT
The normal bacterial skin microflora has three major components: the micrococcaceae, the coryneforms, and a Gram-negative component principally Acinetobacter. Nutrients available at the skin surface include amino acids, vitamins, sugars, and a rich collection of lipids including squalene, triglycerides, fatty acids, cholesterol, and cholesterol and wax-esters. Micrococcus species are very rarely pathogenic and probably as a consequence they have excited much less attention than the staphylococci. The phenomenon of inhibition between cutaneous microbes has interested many workers; this can usefully be divided into three sections: inhibition of bacteria by fungi, “antibiotic” production by bacteria, and nonantibiotic mediated inhibition. Lysozyme is found at the skin surface and this has been suggested as a control mechanism for the skin microflora. Micrococcus luteus , which is extremely sensitive to lysozyme, is readily found on human skin, especially in children and women.
