Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Controlled clinical trials, uncontrolled trials, retrospective studies and prospective observational studies.
Specific interventions included in the review
The prophylactic use of anti-microbial agents in patients with HIV infection.
Participants included in the review
All patients who were HIV positive.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Incidence of infection in patients receiving prophylactic treatment. Organisms studied included pneumocystis carinii, toxoplasma gondii, various fungal infections, mycobacterium avium complex, mycobacterium tuberculosis, herpes simplex virus and several other bacterial infections.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
The authors do not state how the papers were selected for the review, or how many of the authors performed the selection.