[A case of vitiligo occurring after initiation of antiretroviral treatment and disappearing during this treatment: autoimmune IRIS syndrome?].

BACKGROUND

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) includes all signs occurring during the reconstitution of an extensive and insufficiently regulated immune response to an infective or a non-infective antigen and observed during the immune suppression phase in an individual. We report a case of vitiligo appearing after the initiation of antiretroviral treatment and with repigmentation during the course of the treatment.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A 30-year-old man, seropositive for HIV1-M, consulted for a diffuse eruption of hypopigmented and achromic macules. The lesions appeared 7 weeks after the start of antiretroviral therapy with zidovudine, lamivudine and efavirenz, starting on the forearm and spreading to the remainder of the skin. At control visits during the ensuing two months, gradual repigmentation of the achromic macules was noted. Plasma viral load, determined only during the treatment period, was less than 40 copies/ml (1.60(log)).

DISCUSSION

This report concerns an original case of vitiligo occurring at the start of antiretroviral treatment in an HIV-positive patient, with spontaneous repigmentation during treatment. The chronology points to a hypothesis of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), despite the absence of any indication of the patient's viral load prior to therapy.