Identification of spotted fever group rickettsiae using polymerase chain reaction and restriction-endonuclease length polymorphism analysis.

In order to facilitate the isolation and identification of spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae from their tick vectors, we used the centrifugation shell vial technique or traditional isolation procedures and genotypic identification using the restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of polymerase chain amplified fragments. The presence of Rickettsia conorii both in Rhipicephalus sanguineus ticks collected in southern France, and in Rhipicephalus simus and Haemaphysalis leachi from Zimbabwe was demonstrated. This procedure seems to be of particular interest for studying the epidemiology and ecology of SFG rickettsiae.