Traditional method for assessing cell count requires an incubation period of 2~3 days. The direct microscopic count (DMC)method gives rapid enumeration of yeast and bacteria. However, the application is limited, since it is not possible to distinguish accurately between viable and nonviable cell. In this report, several nucleic acid dyes from Molecular Probe Inc. were used to stain the cells for enumeration of live and dead yeast in injured conditions, in which the dye can stain the DNA of nucleus and mitochondria, which then fluoresce yellow under fluorescence microscope, as well as stain the cytoplasm of actively growing cells to fluoresce green, while the cytoplasm of inactive cells fluoresced orange. The direct microscopic count multiplied by the live cell count ratio obtained by this direct epifluoroscent microscopic count (DEMC) method gives the estimated viable yeast count. According to our results, the correlation coefficient (R2) between the cell count obtained by the DEMC method and that by the standard plate count was 0.91 for yeast and 0.96 for bacteria in frozen and heating conditions, respectively. Requiring only 30 min, this method can also be used for the rapid enumeration of viable bacteria in injured conditions.