YEAST or something else on a gram smear!

[viola1234]

Ok, microbiologists, I have to ask you if it's easy to distinguish yeasts on a gram smear. I think I've been misdiagnosed for a long time. My gynocologist says she sees yeast on the gram smear, yet countless times, it will never grow on a culture. In fact, it has never been positive culture. Would it be easy to mistake a yeast for something else? For example, another time she said she saw a sperm! When that was absolutely impossible as I hadn't had relations in over 2 months. I finally got a high tech lab to diagnose the yeast by PCR and DNA. That lab tested negative as well, which made me believe she did not know what she was seeing and I've been treated for yeast, when it was something else.

[CharonY]

As usual, do not take medical advice on fora seriously.

Well, microscopic observations are somewhat dependent on experience. Gram generally stains Gram+ bacteria and fungi but from size alone they should be easily distinguishable. Anything more detailed than that can be tricky. That being said, if the sample was well prepared, PCR is way more sensitive, and should at least taken into consideration for the analysis (but sampling procedure is important).

It is probably a good idea to get some second opinions.