Mycoplasma penetrans Infection in Male Homosexuals with AIDS: High Seroprevalence and Association with Kaposi's Sarcoma

Antibodies to Mycoplasma penetrans were found at an unusually high frequency in male homosexuals with AIDS (55 of 149; 37%) and in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected asymptomatic homosexuals (13 of 49; 26.5%) but not in intravenous drug users (3 of 308; 1%) and hemophiliacs (1 of 165; 0.6%)...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical infectious diseases 1993-10, Vol.17 (4), p.724-729
Main Authors: Wang, Richard Yuan-Hu, Shih, James Wai-Kuo, Weiss, Stanley H., Grandinetti, Teresa, Pierce, Phillip F., Lange, Michael, Alter, Harvey J., Wear, Douglas J., Davies, Christine L., Mayur, Raghavan K., Lo, Shyh-Ching
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AIDS
AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections - epidemiology
Antibodies
Antibodies, Bacterial - blood
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical Infectious Disease Articles
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Epidemiology
Hemophilia A - complications
HIV 1
Homosexuality
Humans
Immunodeficiencies
Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies
Immunopathology
Infections
Kaposi sarcoma
Male
Male homosexuality
Medical sciences
Mycoplasma
Mycoplasma - immunology
Mycoplasma Infections - complications
Mycoplasma Infections - epidemiology
Mycoplasma penetrans
Prevalence
Sarcoma, Kaposi - complications
Sarcoma, Kaposi - epidemiology
Sexually transmitted diseases
Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Antibodies to Mycoplasma penetrans were found at an unusually high frequency in male homosexuals with AIDS (55 of 149; 37%) and in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected asymptomatic homosexuals (13 of 49; 26.5%) but not in intravenous drug users (3 of 308; 1%) and hemophiliacs (1 of 165; 0.6%) with or without HIV-1 infection. Thus, both M. penetrans and Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) occur primarily in male homosexuals and rarely in other groups of patients at high risk of AIDS. Among 414 HIV-1-infected patients, statistical analysis revealed those with M. penetrans antibody were 11.7 times more likely to develop KS. Furthermore, among 198 HIV-infected homosexuals (149 with AIDS and 49 without AIDS), those with KS had M. penetrans-specific antibody at a significantly higher frequency (28 of 47; 59.6%) than did those without KS (27 of 102 with AIDS [26.5%] as well as 13 of 49 without AIDS [26.5%]; odds ratio = 4.1, P < .001). M. penetrans is apparently transmitted sexually through homosexual activity and is epidemiologically linked to formation of KS in homosexual men with AIDS. Parallel tests with M. genitalium revealed no similar link to KS in the same study sample.
ISSN:1058-4838
1537-6591
DOI:10.1093/clinids/17.4.724