AFB - Staining
AFB – Acid- Fast- Bacillus is a kind of Bacteria that is the reason for Tuberculosis (TB) and other infections. TB causes Health issues to the lungs, Brain, Spine, and Kidneys. As per the Doctor’s recommendations, samples taken from various places such as Blood, Urine, Phlegm for this test for diagnosing Tuberculosis and infections like Leprosy. AFB- Stain test detects if a specimen of tissue, blood, and other samples got infected by the Tuberculosis Bacteria and other infections.
AFB – STAINING:
Why AFB-Staining test?
CLINICAL INFORMATION :
AFB- Staining is done on a smear of the patient’s specimen (such as sputum or phlegm) to view under a microscopic examination to detect acid-fast bacteria. The positive specimens are then cultured for confirmation. The principle of AFB staining is that the mycobacterial cell wall contains mycolic acid which is a unique characteristic feature of acid-fast bacterium known as – “ACID-FASTNESS”. Hence the principle of AFB is based on the fact that mycolic acid in the cell wall of AFB renders them resistant to decolorize with acid-alcohol, thus appears in red i.e. acid-fast mycobacterium species like mycobacterium tuberculi, mycobacterium leprae, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex, and Nocardia species (Eg. In ZN-Staining they retain the primary dye CarbolFuchsin despite decolorization with powerful solvent acid-alcohol) while Non-acid fast bacteria will be stained in blue/green with Kinyoun stain. AFB STAINING TESTS are ZIEHL-Neelsen staining, CarbolFuchsin staining etc. Other tests include Mantoux (TB skin test), interferon-gamma release assay or IGRA to detect TB, culture tests, TB-PCR tests, etc.
General instructions:
Sample Requirement: Specimen - Aspiration of synovial fluid from the suspected bone joint region as directed by the pathologist or infected site for microscopic examination.Test Preparation: None.
NOTE - Sample for specimen collections may vary based on the patient’s condition/cases according to the patient’s presentingcomplaints / signs or symptoms:
SPECIMENREQUIREMENT (Special or Rare Cases) - As instructed and guided by Physician / Clinician / Pathologist / as per Laboratory’s requirements, according to procedures and protocols.
This Multi-Specialty Clinical Referral Laboratory RTDIAGNOSTICS provides precise and accurate tests with an extensive range of testing services to the medical centers to help in the diagnosis and identification of pathology in the test specimens for infectious diseases and also to evaluate the function of organ systems of the patient. It prevents further complications and helps to stabilize and restore health to near normalcy at the earliest without delay.
