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Abstract
A survey of complement-fixing antibodies to Mycoplasma pneumoniae in 1673 children (aged 5–13 years) was conducted in Nigeria. Although the antibodies were detected in 25·7% of the children from the savannah belt and 20·4% of those from the forest belt, only 8·9% and 7·4%, respectively, had titres considered high enough to protect them from infection.
The geometric mean titres (GMT) tended to increase with age up to 8 years and then gradually fall. The age-specific differences in GMT were significant (F=2·98; analysis of variance with x= 0·05) but those due to the child's sex (F=2·49) and belt of origin (F=2·61) were not.
The results indicate that Nigeria is a highly endemic area for M. pneumoniae infection, with a large pool of susceptible children in which epidemic outbreaks could occur.