Chronique d’une mort annoncée : le destin funeste des disciplines de médecine tropicale françaises et ses conséquences dans la lutte contre les inégalités sanitaires en Afrique

Since the end of the 1990s, we have witnessed a slow evolution in France leading to the disappearance of disciplines related to tropical diseases. At the hospital level, this is reflected by the progressive inclusion of clinical services dedicated to the treatment of infectious and tropical diseases within an infectious diseases or internal medicine pole, and, in medical biology, by the replacement of parasitological biologists having acquired a specialization in mycology, by mycological biologists having acquired a specialization in parasitology. This orientation may seem normal, the reduction of skills in parasitological and clinical diagnosis being linked to the success of hygiene and food control measures, which have led to the virtual disappearance, in our country, of autochthonous parasitic diseases such as fasciolosis, taeniasis, or amoebiasis. Priority is therefore given to mycology, especially respiratory infections, which are predominant in protected and aging populations. However, should this be done at the expense of diagnostic and treatment skills for diseases affecting populations in countries with limited resources?