[Contribution of the French Armed Forces Health Services to relief in Indonesia following the tsunami on December 26, 2004]. / Principales actions menées par le Service de santé des armées en Indonésie au décours du tsunami du 26 décembre 2004.

As of early January 2005, the French Armed Forces Health Services were on the ground in Indonesia to contribute to relief operations following the tsunami in Indonesia on December 26, 2004. Findings of preliminary investigation performed upon deployment of the first French elements demonstrated that a major priority was to speed up vaccination against measles in children between the ages of 6 months and 15 years. A vaccination campaign was planned in cooperation with Indonesian authorities and UNICEF. Implementation involved training of personnel and setting up vaccination clinics in refugee camps, schools, and neighborhoods in the city of Meulaboh. The vaccination campaign was hampered by a number of problems in particular involving logistics and required constant supervision. A survey to evaluate the results of the campaign in terms of vaccination coverage showed that the objective of vaccinating 70% of children in refugee camps was achieved. The survey provided other child health indicators that will be helpful to local authorities taking over after the departure of the French Armed Forces Health Services.

A histamine-releasing factor from activated human mononuclear cells.

Human mononuclear cells activated by streptokinase-streptodornase have been shown to elaborate a factor capable of releasing histamine from human basophils. We have developed reproducible methods for its production in large quantities by using cells obtained from leukapheresis packs, by detection utilizing donor basophils known to release well with anti IgE, and by quantitation of histamine by the radioenzyme method. Human histamine-releasing factor (HRF) gave a single peak upon gel filtration with an estimated m.w. of 32,000; SDS gel electrophoresis revealed a single major band as seen at m.w. 30,000. HRF can be resolved into at least two forms separable by ion-exchange chromatography on QAE Sephadex, and two peaks of activity were obtained by chromatofocusing or isoelectric focusing in gels at pH 6.9 and between 7.4 and 8.3. This factor represents an important potential link between cellular immunity and immediate hypersensitivity.