What are the advantages of acridine orange stain?

Acridine orange is a cell-permeable, nucleic acid selective fluorescent dye. 

Advantages of acridine orange stain include: 

• Easy to use
• Provides rapid and reliable results 
• Can confirm the presence of bacteria in positive blood smears when Gram stains are difficult to interpret
• Can detect cell wall deficient bacteria such as mycoplasmas that are difficult to visualize in Gram stain