Clavispora lusitaniae

Synonymy: 
Candida lusitaniae

Clavispora lusitaniae is a known cause of disseminated candidiasis, including septicaemia and pyelonephritis.

 C. lusitaniae was first isolated from the digestive tract of warm-blooded animals and environmental isolations have been made from cornmeal, citrus peel, fruit juices, and milk from cows with mastitis.

RG-2 organism.

Culture: 
Colonies (SDA) white to cream-coloured smooth, glabrous, yeast-like.

Microscopy: 
Ovoid to ellipsoidal budding blastoconidia, 1.5-6.0 x 2.5-10µm.

India Ink Preparation: 
Negative - no capsules present.

Dalmau Plate Culture:
Abundant pseudohyphae with short chains of blastoconidia.

Molecular Identification: 
ITS sequencing recommended.

MALDI-TOF MS: 
Able to accurately identify this species.

Physiological Tests: + Positive, - Negative, v Variable, w Weak, s Slow, nd No Data
Germ Tube - L-Sorbose + L-Arabinose v D-Glucitol +
Fermentation   Sucrose + D-Arabinose - 𝝰-M-D-Glucoside v
Glucose + Maltose + D-Ribose - D-Gluconate s
Galactose v Cellobiose + L-Rhamnose v DL-Lactate +,w
Sucrose v Trehalose + D-Glucosamime - myo-Inositol -
Maltose v Lactose - N-A-D-glucosamine + 2-K-D-Gluconate +
Lactose - Melibiose - Glycerol + D-Glucuronate nd
Trehalose v Raffinose - Erythritol - Nitrate -
Assimilation   Melezitose + Ribitol s Urease -
Glucose + Soluble Starch - Galactitol - 0.1% Cycloheximide -
Galactose + D-Xylose + D-Mannitol + Growth at 40C +

Key Features: 
Germ tube negative yeast and sugar assimilation pattern. Note: C. lusitaniae may also be difficult to distinguish from Candida tropicalis using some yeast identification systems.

Antifungal susceptibility: Candida lusitaniae (Diekema et al., 2009, Pfaller et al., 2013a,b; Australian national data); MIC µg/mL.
Antifungal No ≤0.016 0.03 0.06 0.125 0.25 0.5 1 2 4 8 16 32 ≥64
AMB 273   1 9 34 99 102 20 6   2      
FLU 355     13 38 86 106 52 32 11 4 2 5 6
ISAV 50 17 20 10 3                  
VORI 349 291 25 16 4 4 6 2          
POSA 326 59 108 111 26 16 2 4            
ITRA 169 3 6 47 61 28 19 4 1          
ANID 247   2 15 65 85 78 16 2          
MICA 275 3 22 60 78 60 16 7 1          
CAS 247 2 4 12 86 91 38 12 1 1        
5FC 275   15 77 22 54 67 20 5 3 2 1 5 4