Introduction

Psoriasis is a disease of unknown origin with an incidence of 1% to 3%. Several different drugs have been tried to treat psoriasis but none of them could cure the disease completely nor prevent recurrences. Climatotherapy is another treatment method, like that which is performed in Israel in the Dead Sea ( 1- 6). "Kangal Hot Spring with Fish" is located 14 km north of Kangal, a small town in the vicinity of Sivas. The altitude of Kangal town is approximately 1660 meters. There are 5 pools with the total capacity of 130 lt/sec in the spa. The mean temperature is 35 C, The mean oxygen value is 2.9 ppm and the pH value is 7.8.Chemical analysis of the water is shown in Tables 1 and 2.

Two different types of fish alive in the pools of the spring ( 7,8 ). Both of them are members of the Cyprinidae family. The first type is "Cyprinion macrostomus HECKEL,1843; D IV 13-15.A III 7. Linea Laterale 41-42". The second type is "Gara rufa obtusa HECKEL,1843;D III 7-9, A II 5, Linea laterale 36-38". Although these fish have an ordinary morphological structure, the length of their bodies is shorter ( 4-14 cm ) than other members of the same fish family which live in the rivers of this area (20 cm).
Despite the high temperature of the water these fish live in the pools. Because of the scarcity of the natural food sources in the pools, human skin is an attractive and easy food source for these fish.

Receive March 31, 1999; accepted for publication March 15,2000 Departments of Dermatology

* Public Health,

** Clinical Microbiology, Medical Faculty of Cumhuriyet University, Sivas Turkey.

*** Doctor of Biophysics, Medical Faculty of Cerrahpasa Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. Reprint requests to : Sedat Ozcelik , Department of Dermatology,Medical School of Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey.

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