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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Mar 1997, 730-733, Vol 35, No. 3
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Uniform staining of Cyclospora oocysts in fecal smears by a modified safranin technique with microwave heating [published erratum appears in J Clin Microbiol 1997 Jun;35(6):1648]

GS Visvesvara, H Moura, E Kovacs-Nace, S Wallace and ML Eberhard
Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Cancer for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, USA. gsvl@ciddpd2.em.cdc.gov

Cyclospora, a coccidian protist, is increasingly being identified as an important, newly emerging parasite that causes diarrhea, flatulence, fatigue, and abdominal pain leading to weight loss in immunocompetent persons with or without a recent travel history as well as in patients with AIDS. Modified Kinyoun's acid-fast stain is the most commonly used stain to identify the oocyst of this parasite in fecal smears. Oocysts of Cyclospora stain variably by the modified acid-fast procedure, resulting in the possible misidentification of this parasite. We examined fecal smears stained by six different procedures that included Giemsa, trichrome, chromotrope, Gram-chromotrope, acid-fast, and safranin stains. We report on safranin-based stain that uniformly stains oocysts of Cyclospora a brilliant reddish orange, provided that the fecal smears are heated in a microwave oven prior to staining. This staining procedure, besides being superior to acid-fast staining, is fast, reliable, and easy to perform in most clinical laboratories.

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