Chronic fatigue syndrome

Avera.. _Itlht of tumoure/mou.. 1....1 E :7 Cyanobacterial extrect ...II_hylbenanthrecene 777 77ZZZb < 0.05 Tumour promotion by Microcystis sp., a blue-green alga occurring in water supplies To the Editor: Toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) occur throughout the world, and increasingly are reaching water-bloom proportions in drinking-water reservoirs and recreational lakes. I They are associated with allergic reactions to both skin contact and respiratory inhalation.' Liver damage has been reported in a human population who drank water from a supply that contained toxic cyanobacteria," and a major hospitalization of young persons resulted from the treatment of a water-bloom of cyanobacteria on a local watersupply darn." The consumption of low concentrations of an extract of the toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa gave indications in mice of a possible ineffective in the treatment of two basal-cell carcinomas.' Cham and Meares reported the use of BEC 02;' the Department of Dermatology at the Royal Brisbane Hospital was not invited to participate in their study. We are not convinced that the published results constitute sufficient reason to suggest that BEC 02 should be available for the treatment of "skin cancers in humans" without further investigation. Because Curaderm is a different formulation from BEC 02, as detailed in our letter (MJA, January 2,1989), we feel that further investigations must be undertaken and published before this preparation becomes available for the treatment of solar keratoses or cutaneous malignant lesions. We experienced no difficulty in undertaking our trial. The potential problem that was encountered by our patients was that had they used this preparation without supervision, their basal-cell carcinomas would not have received adequate treatment. GraemeL. Beardmore, FACD Veronica Hart, FACD Perry Wilson, MBBS David Francis, MBBS Department of Dermatology Royal Brisbane Hospital Herston Road. Herston, QLD 4029 1. Beardmore GL. Devil apple extract and skin cancer. Med J AUSI 1981; 2: 204-205. 2. Cham BE, Meares HM. Glycoalkaloids from Solanum sodomaeum are effective in the treatment of skin cancers in man. Cancer Lett 1987; 36: 111-118.