Background: Tuberculosis is one of the major public health problems in India and other developing countries.Tuberculosis is still considered a social disease; it reflects the standard of living in the community. The bacilli in the lymphnode can be detected microscopically by ZN stain and fluorochrome stain and culture methods. Objectives: To study the utility of Papanicolaou stain as a screening tool in detection of tubercle bacilli by microscopic method. Method:The prospectively study carried out at Department of Cytology, JJM Medical college Davangere, Karnataka between from September 2013 to February 2014. A total 104 cases of the lymph node FNAC were studied and stained by PIF, AO and Ziehl-Neelsen stained smears. Mycobacterial culture was used as the gold standard to compare the results. Results: Out of 100 specimens, 30%, 56% and 53 % were found positive by ZN, PIF and AO respectively. PIF was found to be superior to ZN on several aspects. Culture was positive in 19.04%. Conclusion: The efficacy of fluorescence microscopy proved to be much higher than conventional light microscopy and comparable to that of culture. Pap-induced fluorescence of lymph node smears is a safe, reliable and rapid method, which can prove as a valuable diagnostic tool for diagnosis of TB.

Keywords: Fluorescence Microscopy; Papanicolaou Stain; Fine Needle Aspiration; Tuberculosis.