Bacterial obligate intracellular parasites have evolved diverse mechanisms for evasion of host cellular defenses. These mechanisms involve adaptations for survival in distinct intracellular compartments. Intracellular niches inhabited by obligate intracellular parasites include the cytoplasm, arrested early endosomes, lysosomes, and vesicles that do not fuse with the endosomal compartment but intersect with an exocytic pathway.