Can you stain streptococcus samples with safronin?

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Strep is usually seen as violet or purple on a grams stain. Safranin is more pinkish. So I guess Strep is not stained by the safranin. Ive seen pics of these bugs - scary!!

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Answer by cmc94 (302)

Most bacteria are classified as gram positive or gram negative depending on gram staining properties. Safranin is the counter stain used after the primary stain (crystal violet) and decolorizing. Gram positive organisms hold the violet stain and don't get decolorised. Streptococcus is a gram positive bacteria.

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Reply by tweety (266):
i wonder what would happen if we simply used safranin as a primary stain - skipping the first few steps of the gram stain procedure. the gram stain is used to distinguish bacteria, but I thought all of them take safranin if used as a single primary stain! add a comment

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Answer by lbj (132)

Safranin is a substance that is used to stain gram-negative bacteria. Streptococcus is gram-positive, so it will not stain with safranin.

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