Sally, It is possible that the bugs are coming from the sectioning water bath. We found that if sections for microbiological staining were cut late in the day, the critters appeared over the slide (not up near the slide label). The controls, which were cut as a batch early morning did not contain the bugs.
The water bath, with extraneous nutrients from the sections, sit around ay 37oC or more and the bugs love it. Try taking a sample to your cytology dept and ask them to do a cytocentrifuge preparation (air-dried, giemsa (or similar) stained) and have a look. We try and cut the sections for Gram, ZN and Fungi staining first thing in the morning to alleviate the problem. Only a thought! Regards Tony Henwood JP, MSc, BAppSc, GradDipSysAnalys, CT(ASC), FFSc(RCPA) Laboratory Manager & Senior Scientist Tel: 612 9845 3306 Fax: 612 9845 3318 the children's hospital at westmead Cnr Hawkesbury Road and Hainsworth Street, Westmead Locked Bag 4001, Westmead NSW 2145, AUSTRALIA -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Breeden, Sara Sent: Friday, 28 January 2011 5:39 AM To: Histonet Cc: Ragsdale, John Subject: [Histonet] Bacterial contamination My pathologist tells me I have floating bacteria in both special stains I did this morning (GMS and Gram); some slides have these floating critters and some don't. Because the only common solutions are those for processing and deparaffinization and because these bacteria appear to be floating above the plane of the tissue - I can't figure out where to start looking. My DI water is from a central source and is routinely quality-checked, and this is a new building (Sep. 2010) I don't want to blame that. Knowing full well that I am probably overlooking the obvious, I'm asking for help figuring this out. I need a Sputnik Moment. Thanks! Sally Breeden, HT(ASCP) New Mexico Department of Agriculture Veterinary Diagnostic Services 1101 Camino de Salud NE Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-383-9278 (Histology Lab) _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet ********************************************************************************* This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, please delete it and notify the sender. Views expressed in this message and any attachments are those of the individual sender, and are not necessarily the views of The Children's Hospital at Westmead This note also confirms that this email message has been virus scanned and although no computer viruses were detected, The Childrens Hospital at Westmead accepts no liability for any consequential damage resulting from email containing computer viruses. ********************************************************************************* _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
