Figure 1.

Smear microscopy strategies. The standard approach to smear microscopy involves collection of sputum specimens over 2 days and examination of one direct smear prepared from each specimen (top panel). Single-specimen microscopy refers to a same-day microscopy strategy that involves collection of only one sputum specimen and examination of two smears prepared from this single specimen (bottom panel). With both strategies, smears can be examined either using conventional light microscopy or light-emitting diode (LED) fluorescence microscopy.