This technique of staining is used to detect

A routine Wright-Giemsa stain of peripheral blood detects coarse basophilic stippling, which is pathognomonic for lead poisoning. In general, basophilic stippling refers to clumps of blue-staining ribosomes, most often seen in anemias with defects in hemoglobin synthesis (e.g., iron deficiency, the thalassemias, lead poisoning). The ribosomal clumps in lead poisoning are large because of the inactivation by lead of ribonuclease, which normally breaks down the ribosomes. In addition, a routine Wright-Giemsa stain specifically identifies Howell-Jolly bodies (nuclear remnants), malarial pigments, marrow reticulocytes (polychromatic cells or shift cells with a bluish-gray discoloration), and intraerythrocytic parasites (malaria, babesiosis). Special stains are necessary to identify Pappenheimer bodies (hemosiderin requires a Prussian blue stain), reticulocytes (supravital stain detects residual RNA), Heinz bodies (clumps of denatured hemoglobin in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency), and globin chain inclusions (excess a-chains) in severe thalassemia..