Staining and Special Techniques for Microbiology Flashcards
1
Q
Gram Stain
A
Most Bacteria
2
Q
Which bacteria do NOT Gram stain well?
These Rascals May Microscopically Lack Color
A
- Treponema (too thin, use dark field microscopy and fluorescent antibody staining)
- Rickettsia (intracellular parasite)
- Mycobacteria (high lipids in cell wall are detected by carbolfuchsin in acid-fast stain)
- Mycoplasma (no cell wall)
- Legionella pneumophila (mostly intracellular, use silver stain)
- Chlamydia (intracellular parasite that lacks muramic acid in cell wall)
3
Q
Acid-Fast Stain
A
Mycobacteria, nocardiae (modified)
4
Q
Silver Stains
A
Fungi (eg, Pneumocystis), Legionella, H. Pylori
5
Q
Periodic acid-Schiff stain (PAS)
- “PASs the sugar”
A
- Stains Glycogen, mucopolysaccharides; used to diagnose Whipple’s disease (Tropheryma Whipplei)
- Fungi, Amebae
6
Q
Mucicarmine Stain
A
Cryptococci
7
Q
Giemsa Stain (Certain Bugs Really Try my Patience)
A
- Chlamydia, Borrelia, Rickettsiae, Trypanosomes, Plasmodium
- (Campylobacteria, Leishmaniae, Malaria, Parasites)
8
Q
Antibody Probes
A
Viruses and Rickettsiae
9
Q
Culture
A
All Classes of Infectious Agents
10
Q
DNA Probes
A
Viruses, Bacteria, Protozoa
11
Q
Ziehl-Neelsen (carbolfuchsin)
A
Acid-fast organisms (Nocardia, Mycobacterium)
12
Q
India Ink
A
- Cryptococcus neoformans (mucicarmine can also be used to stain thick polysaccharide capsule red)
