Trichomomas vaginalis in gram-stained smears.

Abstract

The case in favour of using a stained smear technique for the recognition of Trichomonas vaginalis in clinic practice was admirably put by Liston and Lees (1940) and reiterated by Harrison (1959). The stains advocated by these authors were Leishman's and Loffler's alkaline methylene blue. Kean and Day (1954) and Oller (1965) favoured the Papanicolaou method, but this does not lend itself to routine clinic use. Whittington (1957) considered the stained smear technique to be unreliable. In late 1964, when examining vaginal smears stained by Gram's method, the author recognized undoubted trichomonads, the nucleus, flagellae, and axostyle being clearly identifiable; thereupon several methods of preparing stained specimens were investigated. The clearest results were finally obtained from smears prepared by dipping a glass rod into a pool of exudate at the posterior fornix, gently rolling the rod on the slide, air fixing, and staining by Gram's method, using 1 per cent. safranine counterstain. This method had been tested by Fowler (1953). Aids to recognition of the parasite were the associated flora, small Gram-negative diplococci, and the long Gram-negative or occasionally positive Leptothrix, mentioned as a clue by Papanicolaou and Wolinska (1955). Their presence is not always indicative of trichomonal infestation as has been shown by Carvalho, Kramer, and Kay (1965); trichomonads may be found with all grades of vaginal smear (Schroder, 1921) with or without Doderlein's bacilli and pus. The trichomonad is Gram-negative, of variable shape, and distinguished by the eccentric lenticular nucleus and vacuolated or foamy cytoplasm. The flagellae are often visible. Epithelial cells are unlikely to be confused with the organism, but a large

Pulmonary Trichomoniasis and Trichomonas Tenax

“…From 4% to 24% of patients tested had negative wet-smear examinations but positive cultures (Beatman, 1933;Bland and Rakoff, 1937;Wantland et al, 1958;Wantland and Wantland, 1960). Trichomonads can be detected in gram-stained smears where they appear gram-negative (Cree, 1968). Walton and Bacharach (1 963) appropriately described trichomonads seen in Papanicolaon-smears as "pale gray blobs of poorly The prevalence in the mouth of T. tenax in several series ranged from 4% to 53% (Bland and Rakoff, 1937;De Carneri, 1957;Wantland et al, 1958;Wantland and Wantland, 1960;Jaskoski, 1963;De Carneri and Giannone, 1964;Wantland and Lauer, 1970) and varies with age ( fig.…”

Trichomonads in birds – a review

“…The smears are fixed on slides and treated with different staining methods, such as Giemsa, silver, iron–hematoxylin, Malachite green or methylene blue, Papanicolaou, acridine orange or other stains (Borchardt and Smith, 1991; Kaufman et al 2004). Gram-stained smears were already described by Cree (1968). However, these methods are not of use in routine clinical settings because they are laborious, expensive and dilute the original samples.…”

Comparison of Permanent Staining Methods for the Laboratory Diagnosis of Trichomoniasis

“…Fixative procedures: fixative solutions used in this study were methanol, ethanol, 2.0% paraformaldehyde (in PBS), and polyvinyl alcohol, that were chosen based on the literature review and in their usefulness in clinical laboratories 12 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 . The smears were submitted to staining methods for five minutes by immersion in fixative solutions once fixed.…”

“…Staining procedures: Distinct methods were evaluated: Giemsa and Gram, mostly used in clinical laboratories, and Papanicolaou, reference staining method in cytology laboratories 11 , 12 , 18 . After drying and staining, the smears were analyzed using optical microscopy under 1,000 x magnification.…”