[Etiological aspects of polyneuritis in Senegal]

This study of 115 cases documented by the Neurology Unit between 1970 and 1984, stresses the relative frequency of deficiency etiology. The study was conducted clinically, biologically and electrophysiologically. Distribution between the sexes is almost equal, and the main age group concerned, those between 20 and 40 years. The various ethnic groups are all similarly affected. "Tropical Neuropathies" (most frequently of deficiency origin) are very important and account for half the cases. They are followed, in decreasing order of frequency, by toxic polyneuritis (ethanol and INH), degenerative polyneuritis with Charcot Marie-Tooth's sickness leading, and finally metabolic polyneuritis-diabetic (but diabetes creates no more polyneuritis than multineuritis) and uremic. The frequency of polyneuritis is the same as in European statistics. "Tropical Neuropathy" is a vast, ill defined subject which has been made to include many polyneurites which, in the end after a number of years, turned out to be degenerative polyneuritis. The result of this study will probably be to erode the classification "Tropical Neuropathy", which already displays inexactitudes in long term studies because of the discovery of a significant number of degenerative etiologies wrongly included in the past.