Abstract:
Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially fatal contagious disease that can affect
almost any part of the body but is mainly an infection of the lungs. It is
caused by a bacterial microorganism, the tubercle bacillus or
Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB can be treated, cured, and can be
prevented if persons at risk take certain drugs.
This study concerned mainly in finding an alternative material to phenol
used in traditional Ziehl Neelsen stain for staining acid fast bacilli and
excluding it is
highly toxicity from the staining solution hence
developing safer staining method. Certain selective lipophilic agents,
liquid organic detergents,clorax,fairy and alfa were used.
Archival Paraffin blocks that suggestive of TB Infection upon diagnosis
were reviewed , sectioned and stained .
By these methods acid fast bacilli were detected and stained red in blue
background. Result obtained compared very favourably with traditional
Ziehl Neelsen stain. In addition Detergents are efficient lipophilic agents
and safer to handle than phenol.
In brief, the methods described here stains acid fast bacilli as efficiently
as traditional carbol fuchsin method. Liquid organic cleaners are
considerably cheaper.
