Lepromatous leprosy is a sys temic disorder. In many cases there is extensive involvemen,t not only of the reticuloendothelial system, but also of other organs. Intimal cells of blood vessels may be almost bursting with leprosy bacilli. Liver changes in lepromatous leprosy are well known. They consist chiefl y of foam-cell granulomas, with or without acid-fas t bacilli, in the portal ti ssues a...

Microscopy of direct smears for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) is the most commonly used method for diagnosis of tuberculosis. However, direct microscopy of sputum, though rapid, has low sensitivity and there is a need for improved methods. Sputum samples were collected from patients attending the Union Tuberculosis Institute, Yangon. The microscopy of smears made directly from sputum were compared wi...

Tuberculosis is a disease of great importance in developing countries, such as India, where it has caused considerable morbidity and mortality. Sputum smear microscopy is the cornerstone in diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, which is usually done using Ziehl–Neelsen (ZN) method (Vasanthakumari et al., 1986; Gupta et al., 2009; Chandrasekaran et al., 1991). The use of ZN Method in remote areas...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Making centrifuged deposit smears from sputum to detect acid-fast bacilli (AFB) is considered hazardous. We carried out this study to stain the centrifuged deposits with carbol-fuchsin in sputum containers and to decolourize and counterstain their smears made on glass slides. METHODS The centrifuged deposits of 180 sputum samples from pulmonary tuberculosis patients we...

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 significantl...