A comparative study of Ziehl Neelsen, Gabbet‘s and Fluorescent staining methods to detect acid fast bacilli in sputum samples

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis remains world's leading cause of death from a single infectious agent. Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is the most common presentation of tuberculosis. Here we compare Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN), Gabbet's and Fluorescent staining (FS) methods to determine efficiency and cost effectiveness of diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis from sputum samples. Three smears from 148 sputum samples of PTB cases were prepared and stained by the above methods. Of the samples examined, 71.6% and 53.4% and 85.8% cases were detected by Ziehl-Neelsen, Gabbet's and Fluorescence staining respectively. Fluorescent staining was found to be more reliable and cost effective method particularly when dealing with large sample loads than Ziehl-Neelsen and Gabbet's staining technique.