Gram Stain and Ziehl Neelsen Stain: Limited but Important, Specific Diagnostic Tool

Acriflavine as a Counter-Stain in the Ziehl-Neelsen Method of Staining

a strength of 1:500 with distilled water, and the process of staining is carried out exactly in the same way as that described under the above method, except that acriflavine in the abovementioned strength is used instead of methylene blue. I use the counter-stain for half to one minute. To obtain the best results, all the detail in the careful preparation and fixation of smears, as well as the...

Ribonucleates and the Gram stain.

Salton (J. Gen. Microbiol. 30:223, 1963) summarized the evidence which demonstrates that the gram-positive cell is able to retain the crystal violet after iodine treatment because of the characteristic nature of its cell wall. This evidence is highly convincing, yet it does not explain the experiments of Henry and Stacy (Proc. Roy. Soc. London Ser. B 133:391, 1946) or of Bartholomew and Umbreit...

The Gram stain.

Mechanism of gram stain reversal.

This paper deals with an investigation of the effect of these reactions on bacteria. Not only the common staining behavior but also certain other similarities (Fischer et al., 1949; Fischer, 1951) between intact wool and gram negative bacteria, medium degraded wool and gram variable bacteria, as well as between highly degraded wool and gram positive bacteria suggested that reversal of gram stai...

Fine Needle Aspirates of Enlarged Lymph Nodes. Role of Ziehl Neelsen Stain in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Background: Lymph node tuberculosis (LNTB) is the leading form of extra pulmonary tuberculosis and common in our country. Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) detection by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) method in the fine needle aspirate from these lymph nodes is confirmatory. Objective: To assess the diagnostic utility of Ziehl-Neelsen staining in lymphadenopathy cases, since it is commonly used method in the diagnosi...