Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of cold stain vis-a-vis Ziehl Neelsen stain on culture results.

Various cold stain techniques have been tried with varying success since early part of the century. Dr. S. Kudoh of Japan and Dr. A. J. Pathan of Pakistan discussed to evolve a simple process for cold method (see the foot note) which is a simple procedure for staining tubercle bacilli in sputum specimen. And the cold method was found as sensitive, as specific and almost as reliable as Ziehl Neelsen on direct comparison of two techniques. In this paper, the cold method was further evaluated on culture results with Ziehl Neelsen stain during 1987-90 in our institute.