01112nas a2200241   4500000000100000008004100001260001700042653003100059653001100090653001200101653002300113653000900136100001500145700001300160700001000173700001500183245004900198300001100247490000700258050003200265520055900297022001400856       1990                            d  c1990 Jul-Sep10aBacteriological Techniques10aHumans10aleprosy10aObserver Variation10aSkin1 aBhatia V N1 aVanaja G1 aRao S1 aElango T V00aSome observations on skin smear examination.  a338-450 v62  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>40 slit and scrape smears in a planned study and 35 routine smears picked up from the laboratory were examined. An end-to-end examination of the smears detected additional positives and gave a higher bacterial index than what was reported in the routine. Acid-fast bacilli were found to be distributed in only 1 to 3 per cent of the fields in the smears. The bacilli were found mostly in the centre and in narrow bands between centre and periphery of the smears. Some of the high BI smears were found to contain areas completely free from bacilli.</p>  a0254-9395