Comparison of Gram stain and Nomarski optics for screening sputum specimens before culture.
Although the Gram stain is usually used to screen sputum specimens prior to culture, wet mount observation with Nomarski optics has been suggested as a useful alternative. We compared the two methods and found that more specimens were rejected by the Gram stain technique without eliminating any that yielded important clinical information.
D005840:Gentian Violet; D006801:Humans; D008828:Microbiological Techniques; D008853:Microscopy; D010619:Phenazines; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*
C035863:Gram's stain; D010619:Phenazines; D005840:Gentian Violet