Publication:

Tuberculous mycobacteria bacilli fluorescence and compare with Ziehl- Neelsen stain in fine-needle aspiration cytology of tubercular lymphnode

Background Tuberculosis is infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. There are various methods for diagnosis of tuberculosis such as direct clinical material examination of tubercular bacilli by Ziehl – Neelsen (ZN) staining, demonstration of tubercular bacilli by auramine – rhodamine (AR) staining and autofluorescence (AF).

Methods Present study was done clinically suspected tubercular patients. All received samples Zn stain, fluorescent stain and PAP stain were applied.

Results Among the clinically suspected patients 88 was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Female preponderance was noted accounting for 60.23% (53/88) of cases. Of the 88 aspirates, the smear positivity for acid fast bacilli (AFB) on the ZN method was 37.5% (33/88) while the positivity increased to 81.82% (72/88) on the AR fluorescent method and 86.36% (76/88) on AF.

Conclusions AF staining is more sensitive than the auramine – rhodamine fluorescent and ZN staining in demonstration of mycobacterium bacilli in fine needle aspiration cytology of tubercular lymphnode.