[Polar medical research from the viewpoint of public health].

The increasing interest in polar researches is the reason for numerous foundations of antarctic stations during the last years. In 1987 the German Democratic Republic founded a research station on the 6th continent, working all the years round. The medical polar research, hitherto done only sporadically has got a greater importance now and a working group "Polar Medicine" was established in 1989. Special hygienic problems in Antarctica and future research are discussed.