[Human parasitoses in French Guiana]

MALARIA: This review summarises current knowledge of the epidemiological situation regarding parasitoses in French Guiana. Malaria is the most prevalent infection. The most common species is Plasmodium falciparum which is responsible for three quarters of all bouts of malaria. Plasmodium vivax is mostly present in endemic areas inhabited by Amerindian communities. Plasmodium malariae is rarer. CHAGAS' DISEASE, LEISHMAMIASIS AND TOXOPLASMOSIS: Four acute cases of cardiac Chagas' disease were observed between 1994 and 1996. These cases serve as a warning concerning the possible emergence of this type of parasitosis among the poor in Latin America. Cutaneous leishmaniasis is still highly endemic, with an incidence of about 2 cases per 1,000 inhabitants, which has remained essentially unchanged for 15 years. The identification of severe primary toxoplasmosis in immunocompetent individuals in recent years seems to be associated with an as yet poorly known, natural, Amazonian cycle. INTESTINAL PARASITOSES: Improvements in living conditions, hygiene and treatments are such that intestinal parasitoses, other than anguilluliasis, are no longer a major problem in the urban or coastal areas. The situation is very different in the central areas of the country and in the Amerindian and black half-cast communities, with high prevalences of ankylostomiasis (hookworm disease), anguilluliasis and amoebal disease (Entamoeba histolytica/E. dispar). OTHERS: Lymphatic filariasis is no longer endemic; tropical schistosomiasis and distomiasis have never been endemic. Parasitic pests (cutaneous larva migrans and insect or dust-mite ectoparasites) are more spectacular than severe, and constitute a classic "exotic" component of the spectrum of diseases in French Guiana.