What is carbon fuchsin?

Carbon fuchsin is a biological stain used to detect bacteria in microbiology. It was invented by Paul Ehrlich, a German physician and scientist, in 1882.

Carbon fuchsin is made by combining basic fuchsin dye with phenol, which is a disinfectant and preservative. The resulting solution has a deep red color and is used to stain bacterial cells.

In microbiology, carbon fuchsin is primarily used in the acid-fast staining technique to identify Mycobacterium species, which includes the causative agent of tuberculosis. This is because the cells of these bacteria contain a waxy lipid layer that makes them resistant to regular staining methods.

Carbon fuchsin is also used in the Ziehl-Neelsen staining method, which is used to detect acid-fast bacilli in clinical samples such as sputum, tissue, and cerebrospinal fluid.

Overall, carbon fuchsin is a valuable tool in microbiology for the detection and identification of bacterial pathogens.