[Medical management of exchange students traveling to an isolated tropical milieu: an experience in western Ivory Coast].

Thirty-one students from a French rural engineering school spent a six-week training period in an isolated tropical forest environment in western Cote d'Ivoire. They received preventive medical treatment before departure and were kept under constant surveillance. Because the group was multiethnic and divided into four separate work teams, communication was a major problem. Regular prevention and continuous care allowed control of the fever episodes which occurred in one half of the group presumably from malaria. Since laboratory tests could not be performed, diagnosis and treatment were undertaken presumptively. In this regard the ParaSight-F test would have been highly useful. The second most common manifestations in this susceptible population in an unfamiliar and hostile environment were psychiatric in nature. This finding underscores the need for better screening before departure. The multipurpose first aid kit was adequate. This experience could be helpful to physicians responsible for managing groups traveling in areas where sanitary conditions are poor.