Obtain a coughed sputum sample. You are asked to cough deeply and expel any material that comes from the lungs (sputum) into a container. You may be asked to inhale a mist of salty steam in order to cough more deeply and produce sputum. If enough sputum is still not produced, sometimes bronchoscopy will be performed. The specimen is spread on a microscope slide. The cells of the specimen are stained with dyes to make the components visible. The prepared specimen is then examined under the microscope. If the stain shows mycobacteria, the specimen may be placed in culture media, which encourages them to grow. (Specimens are often cultured even if no mycobacteria are seen, since sometimes the number of organisms is so low that they don't show up with staining, but eventually grow on the culture medium.)
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