HIGH PREVALENCE OF ANTIBODIES TO MYCOPLASMA PENETRANS IN HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS-SERONEGATIVE AND HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS-SEROPOSITIVE POPULATIONS IN BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO

In industrialized countries, the prevalence of antibodies to Mycoplasm a penetrans is higher among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropos itive homosexuals than other HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative gro ups. In an African heterosexual population, we found a higher prevalen ce of M. penetrans antibodies in HIV-seronegative blood donors (15.5%) than in France (0.9%) or the United States (0.3%) and a prevalence of 13.4% in HIV-seropositive individuals. HIV-seropositive individuals w ith less than 5% CD4 cells had a higher prevalence of M. penetrans ant ibodies than individuals with 5% or more CD4 cells (25.0 versus 8.5%).