Assessing the clinical relevance of Fenollaria massiliensis in human infections, using MALDI-TOF MS

Within the European Network for the Rapid Identification of Anaerobes (ENRIA) project eight clinical isolates of Fenollaria massiliensis were encountered. In this study a more extensive description of this species is given and the MALDI-TOF MS database is optimized for its identification. F. massiliensis is an anaerobic Gram positive rod with the tendency to decolorize quickly. It is mostly encountered in clinical samples from the groin region. Less common and non-valid species are not represented in the MALDI-TOF MS database. Therefore, F. massiliensis can only be identified by laboratories performing 16S rDNA gene sequencing. The addition of less common and non-valid species to the database will give insight in their clinical relevance. •Fenollaria massiliensis seems to be a human pathogen.•An extensive description of the biochemical features of Fenollaria massiliensis.•Addition of reference spectra of Fenollaria massiliensis to the MALDI-TOF MS database enables its identification.•Adding reference spectra of uncommon anaerobic species, to the MALDI-TOF MS database, assesses their clinical relevance.