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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2002, p. 3041-3043, Vol. 40, No. 8
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.8.3041-3043.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Inefficiency of 0.3% Carbol Fuchsin in Ziehl-Neelsen Staining for Detecting Acid-Fast Bacilli

N. Selvakumar,1* Fathima Rahman,1 S. Rajasekaran,2 P. R. Narayanan,1 and Thomas R. Frieden3

Tuberculosis Research Centre, Indian Council of Medical Research, Chennai, 600 031 Tamil Nadu,1 Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine, Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai, 600 047 Tamil Nadu,2 South-East Asia Regional Office, World Health Organization, New Delhi, India3

Received 4 February 2002/ Returned for modification 25 March 2002/ Accepted 17 May 2002

We compared the sensitivity and specificity of a modified Ziehl-Neelsen (modified-ZN) staining method for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) with that of the standard Ziehl-Neelsen (standard-ZN) staining method, using culture results with Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the "gold standard." The sensitivity (72%; 101 of 140) of the modified-ZN staining method, which uses 0.3% carbol fuchsin, was significantly lower than that of the standard-ZN staining method (84%; 117 of 140); the modified-ZN method missed 21% of cases detected by the standard-ZN method and 11% more of culture-positive samples than the standard-ZN method. The World Health Organization recommendation of 0.3% carbol fuchsin in the ZN method for staining AFB needs to be reconsidered.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Tuberculosis Research Centre (ICMR), Mayor V.R. Ramanathan Road, Chetput, Chennai 600031, Tamil Nadu, India. Phone: 91-44-8265425. Fax: 91-44-8262137. E-mail: selvakumarn{at}hotmail.com.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2002, p. 3041-3043, Vol. 40, No. 8
0095-1137/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.40.8.3041-3043.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Angra, P., Ridderhof, J., Smithwick, R. (2003). Comparison of Two Different Strengths of Carbol Fuchsin in Ziehl-Neelsen Staining for Detecting Acid-Fast Bacilli. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 3459-3459 [Full Text]  


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