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This paper presents a pilot project of a real time syndromic surveillance system in French armed forces for early warning of biological attack by mass destruction weapons. For simulating the situation of a theatre of operations and its organisation, an electronic syndromic surveillance system covering all branches of service in French Guiana (about 3,000 persons) has been deployed and connected to a surveillance centre in France. This system has been design taking in account a collaborative view of epidemiological surveillance and the mobility of forces in extreme conditions. Several kinds of hardware, from rugged personal digital assistant to desktop computer, and several telecommunication links, from PSTN to satellite data links, are used. This system allows a quick report of cases, which are georeferenced. In the first results, some problems associated with the human and the technical aspects have been reported, in association with some immediate advantages.

Apart from records made of uterine contractions in labour and the progress in dilatation of the cervix, the energy exerted by the uterus to open the cervix can be calculated. The power that is developed and the resistance of the factors that combine to inhibit dilatation of the cervix can also be calculated. Examples are given of promiparous women with a dilatation of 5 cm.

A vesico-uterine fistula has been seen after a caesarean section. Unusually, the discharge ran from the bladder to the uterus. The problems of the aetiology, the diagnosis and the treatment are discussed.

The authors have developed a method of internal tocography which can be used when the membranes are intact and which is as simple in its conception as procedures that are usually for intra-amniotic tocography.