High prevalence of antibodies to Mycoplasma penetrans in human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative and -seropositive populations in Brazzaville, Congo.

In industrialized countries, the prevalence of antibodies to Mycoplasma penetrans is higher among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive homosexuals than other HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative groups. In an African heterosexual population, we found a higher prevalence 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 with less than 5% CD4 cells had a higher prevalence of M. penetrans antibodies than individuals with 5% or more CD4 cells (25.0 versus 8.5%).