Nonurban male homosexuals: epidemiologic, immunologic and virologic characteristics

Twenty asymptomatic male homosexuals living in North Carolina were evaluated looking at epidemiologic, immunologic and virologic characteristics. In ten subjects selected for inhalant nitrite use a significantly higher frequency of multiple drug abuse and a trend toward greater sexual promiscuity was found in comparison with ten nonnitrite users. None of the 20 subjects had chronic lymphadenopathy. Cytomegalovirus (CMV) was not found in urine, blood or throat washings, but was found in 29% of the subjects' semen specimens--a finding that was significantly linked (P less than .05) to the presence of CMV IgM antibody in serum. There were no abnormal helper lymphocytes: suppressor T lymphocyte ratios (all greater than 1.3) and lymphocyte mitogen stimulations were not different from heterosexual controls in contrast to frequent abnormalities reported in male homosexuals in metropolitan areas. If these immunologic findings are reproducible, they may be important in understanding why the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome has clustered in large cities.