<prompt> Nocardia is stained by:Acid fast stainKirams stainAlcian blueMucin stain  <response>: Ans. is a i.e., Acid fast stainRef:Ananthanarayan, 8the, p. 393; 9the, p. 390-91The first step in diagnosis is examination of sputum or pus for crooked, branching, beaded, gram-positive filaments 1 um wide and up to 50 um long. Most nocardiae are acid-fast in direct smears if a weak acid is used for decolorization e.g., in the modified Kinyoun, Ziehl-Neelsen, and Fite-Faraco methods. The organisms often take up silver stains. 