Prevalence of HIV infection among patients with leprosy in African countries and Yemen.

Screening for human immunodeficiency viruses type 1 and 2 (HIV-1 and HIV-2) antibodies was carried out in the serum of 1245 leprous patients and 5731 controls selected in 9 different centers from the Congo Ivory Coast Senegal and Yemen Arab Republic. In Yemen all sera were negative. In the Congo the seropositivity among patients and controls was respectively 3.8 and 5.2%; in Senegal it was 1.3 and 0.6%; and in the Ivory Coast 4.8 and 3.9%. Differences were not statistically significant even considering lepromatous or tuberculoid forms (3.6% and 3.7% respectively). HIV-2 antibodies were only detected in subjects from the Ivory Coast and Senegal. Using appropriate criteria for seropositivity (confirmation by Western blot reactivity to HIV envelope glycoproteins) and a large selection of patients (several countries with several centers) it appears that leprosy (especially the lepromatous form) is not a factor for HIV infection. (authors)