Isolation of Rickettsia felis in the mosquito cell line C6/36

We report the isolation and establishment of Rickettsia felis in the C6/36 cell line. Rickettsiall growth was intense, always with 90 to 100% of cells being infected after few weeks. The rickettsial isolate was confirmed by testing infected cells by PCR and sequencing fragments of three major Rickettsia genes (gltA, ompB, and the 17-kDa protein gene).