High-Content Screening, a Reliable System for Coxiella burnetii Isolation from Clinical Samples.

Q fever, caused by , is a worldwide zoonotic disease that may cause severe forms in humans and requires a specific and prolonged antibiotic treatment. Although current serological and molecular detection tools allow a reliable diagnosis of the disease, culture of strains is mandatory to assess their susceptibility to antibiotics and sequence their genome in order to optimize patient management and epidemiological studies. However, cultivating this fastidious microorganism is difficult and restricted to reference centers, as it requires biosafety level 3 laboratories and relies on cell culture performed by experienced technicians.