[Ciguatera fish poisoning in New Caledonia. Clinical and epidemiological aspects (author's transl)].

The author studies the incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning on the public health in New Caledonia. He gives the results of a large scaled inquiry on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of the disease. The geographical distribution and the toxic species are discussed. It does appear that, though being not an acute medical problem, ciguatera is an important cause of morbidity in some tribus of the Pines and Loyalty Islands primarily, where the reef fish is the chief animal proteic resource.