Single Use of Itraconazole Has No Effect on Treatment for Penicillium Marneffei with HIV Infection.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of a single use of itraconazole for treating Penicillium marneffei infection in HIV-infected patients, help to develop a clinical medication regimen, and provide a scientific basis for treatment measures. METHOD A computerised literature search was carried out using the PubMed, EMbase, Ovid, Web of Science, Science Direct and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) databases to collect relevant articles (from their establishment date to August 2014) using the following keywords: Itraconaz or Sporanox, HIV, AIDS, Penicillium marneffei (PSM), and Treatment. All related RCTs (Randomised Controlled Trials) were screened. Stata12.0 was used to conduct the meta-analysis to calculate the RR (relative risk) and 95% CI (confidence intervals). After that the consistency test, followed by the bias. RESULTS Five RCT papers were finally enrolled, with 467 persons in total. Among them, 192 individuals were enrolled in the experimental group, of which 37 individuals (19.27%) died during the course of the study. The number of participants in the control group was 275, and of these, 55 individuals (18.55%) died over the course of the study. The meta-analysis showed that the RR and 95% CI was 1.03 and 0.69 -1.54, P > 0.05, indicating that single-use itraconazole for the treatment of Penicillium marneffei infection in HIV-infected patients was non-effective. The publication bias analysis results showed that the funnel chart was symmetrical, indicating that the effect of publication bias in this research can be ignored. CONCLUSION Single-use of itraconazole for the treatment of Penicillium marneffei infection in HIV-infected patients is non-effective.