Laboratory Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis using Ziehl-Neelsen and Flourochrome Staining Techniques

Abstract

This study was conducted at Abu Anja Hospital for Chest Diseases (Omdurman) during the period from July to December 2005. The main aim of the study was to make a comparison between Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) and flourochrome method in diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis and to find out the possibility of using flourochrome method in routine diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. A total of 500 patients suspected of having pulmonary tuberculosis were included. The sputum samples were collected from each patient and examined for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) and flourochrome staining methods. By employing flourochrome method 195 positive cases were detected (39 %), while ZN method demonstrated 126 positive cases (25.2 %). These results showed that the flourochrome was more sensitive (P = 0.001) in comparison to ZN staining method. Furthermore, the results obtained demonstrated that males were, fairly, more affected in comparison to females. However, there were no significant difference (P = 0.11), between males and females in contracting the disease. While the most susceptible age group to infection was 25- 36 years, there were no significant difference (P = 0.124) among all age groups examined in this study. Although the flourochrome method was shown to be more sensitive (P = 0.001) compared to ZN method, however, it was cost-effective, laborious and difficult to use as a routine diagnostic method for pulmonary tuberculosis in Sudan. Furthermore, flourochrome, could, possibly be , a potential carcinogen.