Not everything acid fast is Mycobacterium tuberculosis--a case report. |
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| Authors: | E S Olson A J Simpson A J Norton and S S Das |
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| Institution: | Department of Medical Microbiology, St Bartholomew''s Hospital, London, UK. |
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| Abstract: | The Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain is important in identifying organisms that are acid fast, principally Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, decolorisation with a weaker acid concentration (for example 1% hydrochloric acid), often used in ZN staining in histology, can result in a wider variety of organisms appearing acid fast and can be a cause of misidentification. To illustrate this point, a patient is described with pulmonary nocardiosis who was misdiagnosed as having tuberculous empyema on pleural biopsy. |
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