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Thirty-two patients have been hospitalised in Marseilles since 1979 for recurrent oedema following their return from a tropical region. In spite of strong suspicion, the diagnosis of Loa loa was confirmed only five times. One patient was diagnosed with filariasis due to Mansonella perstans. The diagnosis of loiasis was usually presumptive and there were often wide variations in the laboratory findings. Two patients were thought to have an allergic reaction to diethylcarbamazine. Another patient was felt to have an allergy to streptococcal antigen. One patient who had lived in the Extreme Orient presented with an inflammatory fasciitis. Two patients presented with neurological manifestations: one with eosinophilic meningo-encephalitis, one with a neuropathy of the median nerve. In one case, the oedema was attributed to congenital lymphoedema.