Program Guide

Acid-Fast Smears

Five specimens per testing event.
These specimens will only be included in the first and third shipments. The specimens are killed bacteria suspended in simulated sputum. 

Perform your normal staining procedures and code either the absence or presence of acid-fast bacilli, using only the numbers 1 (for acid-fast bacilli not present) or 2 (for acid-fast bacilli present) and code the method used by entering the appropriate numeric code 1 (for nonfluorescent) or 2 (for fluorescent). The Acid-fast Smears program is limited to Mycobacteriology Type 1 (Extent 1) laboratories only (those which only report acid-fast smear results). Therefore, extent coding is not relevant for this program.