Mycobacterium antacidum belongs to Mycobacterium, because the cell wall of Mycobacterium contains a large number of lipids surrounded by peptidoglycan, so Mycobacterium is generally not easy to color, the traditional staining method should be heated and prolonged staining time to promote its coloring. Once the mycolic acid in Mycobacterium combines with the dye, it is difficult to be decolorized by acidic decolorizing solution, so it is called anti-acid staining.

The leprosy bacillus stain is further improved by Wade-Fite on the basis of Ziehl-Neelsen staining of antacid bacillus, and its staining principle is that the mycolic acid binds to the compound red to form a complex at room temperature, and the mycobacteria remain red after the hematoxylin re-staining while the other bacteria and the substances in the background are blue, and this staining is better than the Ziehl-Neelsen staining and Kinyoun staining are more suitable for showing Mycobacterium leprae.