The patient’s symptoms and report of tick bites are sufficient for a diagnosis of Rocky Mountain spotted fever; no further testing is required for diagnosis. Laboratory tests which included complete blood count (CBC), liver function tests (LFTs), complete metabolic panel (CMP), prothrombin time (PT), and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) are helpful to know which treatments the patient requires, but they are not necessary for diagnosis. Blood culture for R. rickettsii is not often performed because the organism is generally located in vascular endothelial cells rather than the blood. Although a lumbar puncture should be performed to assess for infection and pleocytosis, this test is not diagnostic for RMSF.