In the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos), rickettsial infections, including scrub and murine typhus, account for a significant burden of fevers. The Mahosot
Hospital Microbiology Laboratory in Vientiane, Laos, routinely performs rickettsial isolation from hospitalized patients with suspected rickettsioses using mammalian cell culture systems. We review the clinical and laboratory factors associated with successful
Orientia tsutsugamushi and Rickettsia typhi isolations from this laboratory over a period
of 6 years between 2008 and 2014. The overall isolation success was 7.9% for all samples submitted and 17.3% for samples for which the patient had a positive O. tsutsugamushi or R. typhi rapid diagnostic test (RDT), serology, or PCR. The frequency of successful isolation was highest for samples submitted in November, at the end of the wet
season (28.3%). A longer median duration of reported illness, a positive result for a concurrent Orientia or Rickettsia spp. quantitative PCR, and the use of antibiotics by the patient in the week before admission were significantly associated with isolation success
(P 0.05). Buffy coat inoculation and a shorter interval between sample collection and
inoculation in the laboratory were associated with a higher frequency of isolation (both
P 0.05). This frequency was highest if cell culture inoculation occurred on the same
day as blood sample collection. Factors related to the initial rickettsial bacterial concentration are likely the main contributors to isolation success. However, modifiable factors
do contribute to the rickettsial isolation success, especially delays in inoculating patient
samples into culture.