Risk assessment of the yeast Clavispora lusitaniae

Clavispora lusitaniae from the family Metschnikowiaceae is a yeast species that has been isolated from residues of palm oil production, fruit juice, raw milk, sourdough, and from agave plants during fermentation. The genome of C. lusitaniae encodes, among other things, Virulence factors such as adhesins, aspartyl proteinases, phospholipases and lipases.

C. lusitaniae is described as a pathogen causing infections in immunosuppressed patients (such as cancer patients, dialysis patients, premature infants and transplant recipients). Candidemia with C. lusitaniae , which were often catheter-associated, were sometimes fatal. In addition to the Candidaemia can C. lusitaniae can also cause candidiasis of the urogenital tract or pneumonia. It has been shown that C. lusitaniae can cause infections even in immunocompetent people. Usually C. lusitaniae sensitive to antifungals such as flucytosine or azoles (e.g., fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, and voriconazole), while resistance to amphotericin B and echinocandins is more common. Some isolates of C. lusitaniae However, they were found to be resistant to flucytosine, ketoconazole or fluconazole. In diagnostics, C. lusitaniae often cannot be reliably distinguished from other Candida species using common routine tests. TRBA 460 "Classification of Fungi" C. lusitaniae assigned to risk group 1+ (the suffix + indicates: In isolated cases, proven or suspected as a pathogen, cases of illness mostly only in people with impaired immune systems; however, identification of the species is often not reliable). The ZKBS classifies C. lusitaniae In its current statement pursuant to Section 5 Paragraph 1 GenTSV in conjunction with the criteria in Annex 1 GenTSV, it is classified as a donor and recipient organism for genetic engineering work in risk group 2, since the facultative pathogenic yeast can cause infections not only in immunosuppressed individuals but, in rare cases, also in immunocompetent individuals.

The complete ZKBS statement can be found at File number 45243.0128 can be retrieved.