The Fite (or Fite-Faraco) stain is a light-microscopic acid-fast stain with a different acid-fast extraction routine. (I don't know if it's ever been adapted for fluorescence microscopy, but it certainly could be.) The Fite stain is used to demonstrate Mycobacterium leprae (the etiologic agent of Hansen disease) which is less acid-fast than Mycobacterium leprae.
Tissue containing known Mycobacterium leprae is needed for the control slide. Obviously, human tissue is difficult to obtain. The armadillo (North American nine-banded armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus) is both naturally infected with M. leprae (in Louisiana), and is easily infected experimentally. The etiologic agent is known to be identical to the human agent. It would seem to me that infected armadillo tissue would be an acceptable positive control. Does anyone have it available? Bob Richmond Samurai Pathologist Knoxville TN _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet