Mycoplasma, AIDS, Gulf War

[Neil McKenna]

Thomas Keske wrote:

> I've barely started to look into "mycoplasma", after having seen
> references to mycoplasmas relating to AIDS and Gulf War.
> I'm also getting the impression that "mycoplasma", apparently long known
> most as a cause of a type of pneumonia, might be too broad of a category for
> it
> to meaningful to evaluate the state of "general" knowledge about them.
> 
> To what degree are different mycoplasmas tied together with similar
> properties that distinguish them as a unique type of pathogen?

Mycoplasma is an odd type of bacterium that has absolutely NO cell wall.
There are two main members of the species: M. pneumoniae (causes
pneumonia, usually in immunosuppressed individuals) and M. genitalium
(causes an STD (I'm not sure which one)). 

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities to see infections
of either mycoplasma  in AIDS patients, considering they're
immunosuppressed.