[OverView of infectious and non-infectious diseases in French Polynesia in 2025].

Abstract

Tahiti or the "myth of Paradise", Bora Bora, "the Pearl of the Pacific". Who has never wanted to take a plane and come and land on the heavenly beaches of Polynesia, a French territory at the antipodes of mainland France lost in the middle of the Pacific? However, we do not imagine that 60% of Polynesians live below the metropolitan low-income threshold or that life expectancy is lower than that of the mainland due to the high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases with three quarters overweight population.In addition to non-transmissible metabolic diseases, various pathologies common to temperate countries present specificities in Polynesia, leading to sometimes different management and medical reasoning. Indeed, in Polynesia where the islands extend over an area of the size of Europe, delays in treatment are frequent and it can sometimes seem difficult to send sick patients back to their isolated island. Certain pathologies that were once common in France, such as acute rheumatic fever, are still prevalent there, while others, such as gout, are rarely seen elsewhere in terms of prevalence or severity. Even if the geographical distance has protected Polynesia from a number of tropical diseases including malaria or dangerous animals, this territory presents a range of varied infectious diseases including arboviruses, leptospirosis, tuberculosis and leprosy or angiostrongylosis. Skin infections are very common with their corollary of complications including endocarditis and osteoarticular infections. The sea, which is omnipresent, also poses certain dangers such as ciguatera poisoning and exposure to certain marine organisms.Care is provided according to current medical standards thanks to European-level resources allowing diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities that do not exist in other Pacific island states.The objective of this overview is to guide health care providers coming to or practicing in French Polynesia in their daily practice, but also practitioners taking care of people returning from Polynesia.