At present, “COVID-19” is spreading fast, dismaying the whole world in a hurried and vehement manner! The epidemic makes us stand ready in battle array and epidemic control is a duty of ours. On February 15th, Professor Qin Xunyun, Vice Director of the Population, Medicine and Health Committee of Central Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association (CNDCA), Honorary President of the Society of Yao Medicine, China Medical Association of Minorities (CMAM), the 13th-generation Head of the Qin’s Yao Medicine, a Chief Physician of Yao Medicine and President of the Beijing Yao Medicine Hospital, rushed to Wuhan with his team at the request of the state. So far, Professor Qin Xunyun and his team have treated and cured more than 300 patients with COVID-19 and more than 800 suspected patients.
When “SARS” wreaked havoc, we looked up much historical data of Yao Medicine, seeing a “plague” that broke out in the Dayao Mountain in ancient times, and that the plague was very similar to SARS. With our ancestors’ experience in preventing and treating plagues, we offered to submit a request for medical assignment. Gaining approval from the state, we left for Beijing Metallurgy Hospital, the main battlefield against SARS, where we treated patients with Yao drugs native to the Dayao Mountain using the plague control prescription proposed and validated by the ancestors of the Qin’s Yao Medicine. Finally, we cured a total of 31 critically ill patients with SARS, with no mortality. Follow-ups show that none of them has sequela, and we have therefore been rewarded by Party and state leaders personally.
“COVID-19” has lot of awful force. The virus has captured Wuhan and swept across the land of China. Upon its outbreak, we organized an expert team for developing a prevention and treatment scheme, discovering that its clinical manifestations are very similar to that of “SARS”. Yao Medicine is native to South Chinese hilly areas, where various plagues attacked Yao villages and even destroyed some villages in history. Yao Medicine holds a unique understanding of such diseases. In terms of etiology, our ancestors have long advanced a set of theories, including acute onset, miasma, venomous insect, wind, tuberculosis, pestilence and deficiency. Yao Medicine also holds unique insights into the treatment of plagues. We gained some experience when fighting against “SARS” in 2003. So, we believe that the therapy scheme of Yao Medicine is sure to win the war. Moreover, the cost is very low, i.e., only one tenth of Western medicine costs.
I. Yao Medicine’s Understanding of COVID-19
Spring is the active phase of febrile diseases in the Yao area because the weather there is quite changeable at the turn of seasons. So, the Yao Medicine has accumulated abundant experience in preventing and treating “plagues”. Judging from the incidence and clinical manifestations of “COVID-19”, it should be considered as one of the “plagues” defined by the Yao Medicine. In the ancient literature of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) there is a description of the “plagues” prevalent in South China. For example, The Book of Prescriptions given Senior Physicians points out, “The plagues (prevalent in South China), characterized by high fever, cough, chest pain and asthma, can cause a death in a moment.” There is also a detailed record of miasma-induced diseases in the Answers to Questions about Foreign Counties. “When a southerner has fever for one or two days, a needle can be used to acupuncture his lips to draw blood, and then a paper mulberry leaf can be used to wipe his tongue. After that, the patient is asked to stand up at attention and the physician acupunctures the green pulses under the wrinkles on both ankles. Blood will flow out profusely. The patient will then take the sweet wormwood herb in water, getting cured.” Miasma-induced diseases are divided into two types: chill and fever in the General Treatise on the Cause and Symptoms of Diseases. “For patients with a plague, although they have high fever, they still need to take a warm drug to induce perspiration if there is cold in their body. But if perspiration does not stop, cold medicine can be used.”
In terms of eye inspection, Yao Medicine has the white eye inspection, black eye inspection, pupil spirit inspection and pupil inspection. There is also the nail diagnosis, hand diagnosis, head and face diagnosis, diagnosis of facial features, diagnosis of lips and tongue, body shape diagnosis and umbilicus diagnosis. These diagnostic methods reflect Yao doctors’ observation of disease symptoms. Many diagnostic contents are of special significance for judging the nature and prognosis of diseases, and there are diagnostic criteria for lung diseases.
As for the treatment of various “plagues”, the Yao Medicine has the following methods: detoxication and deinsectization, nasal fumigation, medicated bath, egg compress, pricking blood therapy, elongated needling therapy, dredging and scraping therapy, oral administration of raw herbs and “herb grinding” therapy, of which nasal fumigation with Lysimachia foenum-graecum Hance is most effective. As for pharmacotherapy, there are abundant herbal drugs with distinct local characteristics in Yao Medicine, including 104 classical “Yao drugs” such as “five tigers”, “nine cattle”, “eighteen drills” and “seventy-two winds”. The above are the most widely used and curative drugs, some of which are applied to the treatment of “plagues”. For example, ovateleaf holly bark and gentian are miraculously effective in bringing down a high fever; herba houttuyniae and anti-cough herb are miraculously effective in treating chest stuffiness and cough; Pholidota chinensis, one of the “five tigers”, is effective in treating pyrexic miasma; five-finger wind, one of the “seventy-two-wind”, is effective in treating acute filthy diseases while the five-layer wind is effective in treating all types of fever.
In a word, the Yao Medicine considers all infectious febrile diseases as “plagues” and has unique empirical methods for treatment. The experience has unique values and significance for the prevention and treatment of “COVID-19”.
II. Yao Medicine’s Analysis of the Pathogenesis of “COVID-19”
In response to the high prevalence of “COVID-19”, the Yao Medicine analyzes its pathogenesis as follows:
(I) Three-Element Harmony Theory: Heaven, man and earth constitute a unity of three elements. Everything comes back to life in spring, but the weather is quite changeable at the turn of seasons. Man must adapt to the changes of heaven and earth in order to be disease-free. However, people will get ill when they fail to adjust to the changes of heaven and earth.
(II) Waxing-waning Balance Theory: Excess-deficit balance means that man is healthy and disease-free. If waxing prevails, it will overflow and induce a disease. If waning prevails, it will cause a deficiency, which induces a disease. So, waxing-waning balance must be maintained. All things come to life in spring, when the weather is changeable and the tender lung is easy to impair. Lung diseases must be treated by promoting the dispersing function of the lung, regulating the flow of qi, abating fever, eliminating pestilent toxicity. That’s like opening the door to let the enemy go away. The Western medicine holds that fever and cough are caused by “viruses”, which are killed with cold drugs, such as antibiotics and hormone drugs as if water were used to put out a fire. As a consequence, viruses start varying ceaselessly. Although the dose of antibiotics gets increasingly high, the viruses become more and more fierce. That’s like shutting the dogs up to beat them, “making them in bite people desperation”. The Western medicine advocates treating and preventing a virus by killing them, but the virus diffuses faster and faster. Actually, a warm disease with typhoid fever can be put under effective control if it’s treated as quickly as possible.
(III) “COVID-19” has been listed among Category-B infectious diseases. Moreover, the prevention and control measures for category-A infectious diseases have been adopted. According to its clinical manifestations and incidence, the ancient Yao Medicine considers it a “human plague” caused by epidemic pathogenic factors including dampness-heat. The Yao Medicine argues that “toxicity and deficiency induce many types of diseases”, and that “there are different causes for different diseases” and “toxin is the worst of all causes while deficiency is the first indirect cause of all diseases”. The pathogenesis is that toxins enter the body through the mouth and nose to attack the lung and stomach by burning the qifen first and then the nutrient-blood. The Yao Medicine holds that “the nose is the general orifice”. To be specific, the mouth, eyes and ears all can be closed and reposed while only the nose has to work round the clock to sustain life. So, epidemic toxins may seize the opportunity to enter the body through the nose. So, it’s said that illness finds its way in by the nose.
(IV) The manifestations of “COVID-19” are in line with the Yao Medicine’s description of “plagues”. Fever is a typical manifestation of the qifen syndrome while cough and dyspnea are manifestations of pneumonia. In severe cases, an infection is very likely to cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, respiratory failure, heart failure, kidney failure and even death. Judging from the manifestations of “COVID-19”, such as person-to-person spread, the pathogenic factors in the body primarily include dampness, toxin, stasis and heat.
(V) According to the pathological change rule of “COVID-19”, in terms of therapeutic principle establishment, we should not only take a holistic view, but also set priorities, but in general, we ought to focus on attacking pathogen and try not to use tonic medicine at will for strengthening the body resistance. The Yao Medicine always holds that an acute pestilence is a malignant disease, and insists that “tonic medicine cannot be used for treating malignant disease”, as is treatment experience summed up in practice. As long as the disease is not cured and the epidemic toxin remains there, antipyretic and antitoxic drugs should be first used for treatment and even in the whole process of medication. That’s a way to eliminate the cause and cannot be changed because the disease is relieved, or the disease will relapse. Then, a further therapeutic principle needs to be established according to the pathogenesis. The purpose is to disperse the lung qi. Lung qi obstruction, dyspnea and cough are pathological lesions caused by epidemic toxins invading the lung. In addition to symptomatic treatment, drugs should be used according to the pathogenesis, or the condition will fail to be effectively improved. In the course of treatment, dosage can be changed with severity. If treatment is given with the mere aim of seeking a change of symptoms while the etiological factors and pathogenesis are ignored, a serious therapeutic error will occur.
III. Treatment based on Etiologic Factors
According to the clinical manifestation of “COVID-19”, the traditional experience of the Yao Medicine and my practical experience in treating “SARS”, I have formulated the following diagnosis and treatment schemes:
(I) Yaoshan Toxin-Clearing Decoction:
[Ingredients] 13 herbs including ovate leaf Holly Bark, holly root, flos lonicerae, fried semen armeniacae amarae, herba houttuyniae and grosvener siraitia.
[Indications] Used to treat lung qi obstruction, hypochondrium distending pain and slimy yellow tongue fur caused by distemper attacking lung.
[Functions] Effective in clearing away toxins and detoxicating, freeing lung and relieving asthma, abating fever and relieving pain. Used to treat fever, cough, pharyngalgia and asthma caused by a plague.
[Usage and Dosage] Oral. 100ml each time, bid; 100ml each time, tid, for a critically ill patient. Administered warm half an hour after meal.
[Food Prohibition] Avoid seafood, raw, cold, spicy, oily or stodgy food during pharmacotherapy.
(II) Yaoshan Toxin-Clearing Oral Spray
[Ingredients] Water, cyclea polytata, semen armeniacae amarae, herba houttuyniae, radix isatidis, flos lonicerae, eriobotrya japonica, mint, sweet wormwood herb, radix glycyrrhizae, pomelo rind, grosvener siraitia, patchouli essential oil.
Functions] Strongly effective in inhibiting staphylococcus aureus, escherichia coli and candida albicans.
[Scope of Use] Oral.
[Usage] Keep the bottle vertical and aim the spray nozzle at the oral cavity to spray 3-4 times.
[Precautions] Do not spray into an eye. If spray enters an eye, please wash the eye with water immediately. Please put the bottle where children cannot reach it.
(III) Dampness-Resolving and Detoxicating Pills:
[Ingredients] 16 herbs including black sliced aconite, Amomum tsao-ko, rhizoma cyperi, citrus, galangal, radix aucklandiae, rhizoma atractylodis, fructus alpiniae oxyphyllae and mint.
[Indications] For the treatment of dyspepsia, diarrhea, bitter taste and sour regurgitation caused by deficient cold of spleen and stomach; general lassitude and cold limbs caused by dampness; dysphoria, insomnia and chest stuffiness caused by disharmony between the heart and kidney.
[Functions] Effective in clearing away toxins and resolving the exterior, invigorating spleen for eliminating dampness, strengthening yang-qi to consolidate defensive qi, refreshing and restoring consciousness.
[Usage and Dosage] For external use. Put pills on the palm and rub the hands together until the pills become warm, then place them in the belly button and seal it up with paper. Take down in 16h.
[Precautions] The pills can be removed if the paper causes skin itching around the belly button. The pills can be put back to the belly button 1h later.
(IV) The particular therapies of the Yao Medicine can be combined together to effectively clear away dampness, toxins, stasis and heat, as follows:
1. Nasal fumigation as the first therapy: Put mint, Lysimachia foenum-graecum Hance, perilla leaves and Acorus calamus in a fumigator to fumigate the nose for 15min each time. Sniff a medicinal gas, i.e., intranasal administration, to complete gas exchange with the pulmonary vesicles so that the gas can be dissolved in blood quickly, achieving the goal of treatment (in the days of war, the Japanese army released toxic gas, which killed people as soon as they smelled it. This suggests that gas inhalation becomes effective much faster than medication use and acupuncture);
2. Medicated bath: The largest human organ is skin, which covers an area of 2m2. When taking a medicated bath, a patient seems to take medicine with the aid of a dozen big mouths. Medicine can enter the human body through various apertures and pores in the body surface, achieving percutaneous absorption with medicine reaching the lung and entering the interstitial space, unblocking the pores and apertures, clearing away the scourge toxins on the body surface and opening the door to let the enemy go away (a virus can be skilled at temperature of over 40°C. The decoction temperature is 42°C);
3. Egg rolling therapy: A medicated egg is hot and able to open pores and apertures with herbal soup entering the body to adsorb toxins and activate meridians. The egg rolling therapy is one of the most common Yao Medicine therapies effective in driving the wind, expelling cold, removing toxins, bringing down a fever, easing pain and dredging collaterals;
4. Scraping therapy for dredging collaterals: Effective in regulating qi and activating blood analgesia, dredging blood vessels, removing toxins for diffusing the lung and dissipating stagnation for easing pain (and bringing down a fever);
5. Pricking blood therapy: Effective in dredging the channels, removing stasis for promoting blood circulation, removing toxins for clearing heat, relieving swelling and pain, restoring consciousness, purging heat and dredging collaterals for easing pain;
6. Elongated needling therapy: Effective in dredging all collaterals, air passages and water channels to achieve waxing-waning balance, thus quickly regulating the body, removing blood stasis, relieving asthma, bringing down a fever, and enhancing immunity.
IV. Prevention and Health Nursing
(I) General measures:
1. Have enough rest, invigorate health effectively and enhance the body’s resistance to diseases;
2. Perform fumigation with white vinegar. That is, put mint, agastache rugosa, Lysimachia foenum-graecum Hance and fresh perilla frutescens in a red-hot iron pan. Then, place 200ml of vinegar in the pan with a red-hot soldering iron to produce steam to sterilize indoor air;
3. Perform disinfection and wash hands frequently, and try not to go to public places;
4. Prevent influenza by drinking cool herbal tea. Put 5g of herba houttuyniae, oroxylum indicum vent, cyrtomium rhizome, semen armeniacae amarae and radix isatidis, respectively, in boiled water and drink 150ml each time, bid.
(II) Dietetic regulation
1. Drink as much water as possible and eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, such as Chinese cabbage, radish, pear and melons;
2. Have a vegetarian diet with non-fatty food on it.
Concluding remarks: The Yao Medicine’s experience in treating “SARS” is solid. Especially, the Yao Medicine has played an important role in preventing and treating plagues. The experience of TCM and ethnic medicine can be used as reference for the prevention and treatment of “COVID-19”. Important scientific and practical values will surely be discovered if they are further studied. The above prescriptions and therapies of Yao Medicine can cut down treatment costs, stem public panic, and make a contribution to the control of “COVID-19” across the world.
Beijing Yao Medicine Hospital
3/13/2020
