Demonstration of mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum and saliva smears of tuberculosis patients using ziehl neelsen and flurochrome staining- a comparative study.

Background: Early detection of tuberculosis is important for reducing its morbidity and mortality especially in the patients with non-productive cough. To overcome the cumbersome process involved in collection and processing of the sputum specimen, the time consumed for reporting of sputum by Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) method and to introduce a routine screening test in suspected, symptomless tuberculosis patients, the present study was designed using saliva as diagnostic medium and Auramine Rhodamine (AR) as staining method. On review of literature, there was no study which has tried diagnosing tuberculosis using saliva with flurochrome stain; hence the present study was designed.