Medical treatment at the Magoura cave

bnr.bg, Diana Hristakieva, Margarita Dikanarova

A joint project of allergy doctors, the Ministry of Public Health and the Municipality of Belogradchik will be run at the Magoura Cave, 180 km to the northwest from the capital Sofia and 17 km from the town of Belogradchik. The project will seek to provide a so-called speleo-treatment to bronchial asthma patients.

The cave and its adjacent environs have been declared a National Tourist Site. The Magoura Cave is one of the largest in the Balkans- the total length of subterranean galleries opened for viewing till date runs to 25000m. The individual halls are of colossal dimensions - over 200m long, over 50m wide and rising to a height of 20m.

“Over 1974-75 some 220 bronchial asthma patients received due treatment at the Magoura Cave”, says Dr Totko Naidenov. “The course of treatment included overnight staying at the cave. There is that hall there, called “The Festive Hall” where this used to take place. The temperature there is an invariable 12 degrees C both in winter and summertime. The humidity level in the cave is constant too and is never influenced by exterior factors. There are no allergy agents in the air and the microorganisms inhabiting the cave are not pathogenic. We’re now in the process of working out the project and hope to be able to carry it through in a matter of months. We believe the supplementary treatment work well with bronchial asthma patients. Next door to the cave there is a lake, called Rabisha Lake, where tourists can practice surfing, swimming, fishing- all very handy in fighting modern stress”, said Dr Totko Naidenov.
Cave treatment is not a panacea. Spending a night on the premises does not mean that asthma attacks will just disappear, but then their frequence and intensive will decrease, allergy doctors argue.” The main point in bronchial asthma treatment is the banishment of the allergy agent, causing the onset of the disease”, specifies Associate Professor Vassil Dimitrov, National Allergy Consultant and Chief of the Allergy Clinic at Alexandrovska Hospital in the capital.
“We have seen the number of allergy ailments, bronchial asthma included, spiral over recent years, i.e. 2-3fold in the last twenty years. Given Bulgaria’s population of about 7 million, this means the number of asthma victims, children and adults, accounts for 9 % of population figures. Having said this, let me tell you that allergic rinitis happens to be rather too often the precursor of bronchial asthma. If wrongly treated the rinitis is bound to grow into asthma. If we add the number of allergic rinitis patients to that of bronchial asthma victims the figure would soar to 1 500 000. Many research teams in Bulgaria and abroad have been looking into the causes of growing asthma incidence. They have so far come up with four undisputed sources of allergy. One is pollution of atmospheric air and sprawling urbanization. Two - stressful life. Three - emergence of new food allergy agents such as colouring and conservation agents. Food allergies have multiplied among young and old. We are well aware that frutti di mare and peanuts can be very powerful allergy agents. And last but not least sedentary way of life has proved highly conducive to this end too. Nowadays people tend to spend an ever growing amount of time in front of computers, indoors and not out of doors, hence they become easy target of allergy agents thriving in a closed environment - dust, cockroaches, etc.”, said in conclusion associate professor Vassil Dimitrov.