Impairment of tritan colour vision after initiation of treatment with zidovudine in patients with HIV disease or AIDS.

Zidovudine (3'-azido-2',3'dideoxythymidine) is a drug with proved antihuman immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase activity. It has been clearly demonstrated that the benefits of zidovudine outweigh the risks of its use."'5 Different adverse effects have been reported for zidovudine, including anaemia, neutropenia, nausea, vomiting, myalgias, abnormalities of liver function, bluish nail pigmentation, headaches, myositis, and trichiasis.6' Colour vision deficits have been reported for patients with AIDS or HIV disease,89 and it has been shown that this defect is most prominent for tritan vision.9 The pathogenesis of colour vision deficits in patients with HIV disease remains unclear. We wish to report the occurrence of a temporary decrease in tritan colour contrast sensitivity in two patients with HIV disease starting or restarting treatment with zidovudine.