[Metropolitan pneumologists and exotic diseases]

Due to the increasingly widespread development of international exchanges, physicians, particularly pneumologists, working in metropolitan France may encounter patients with respiratory signs who have travelled or lived in tropical zones. In such cases, history taking, physical examination, imaging, bacteriological and parasitological explorations, pathology and immunology are all precious tools for diagnosis. All possible tropical diseases should be entertained, taking into account the geographical setting and the patient's lifestyle. The pneumologist must not forget that these exotic tropical diseases remain uncommon compared with cosmopolitan causes of lung disease: bacterial infections, tuberculosis, cancer.