Recently, Zheng Hong, professor at Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, wrote an article in "Qiushi" to point out that the history of the Chinese nation's reproduction for thousands of years is also a history of fighting against diseases. In terms of preventing and controlling infectious diseases that are particularly harmful, our country has accumulated many experiences and lessons from ancient times to the present, which are worth reviewing, thinking and learning.
There will be a plague, and there will be a struggle against the plague. In oracle, we can see the early measures taken. For example, the oracle of the oracle says "disease, death", which means not to get close to the patient, maybe because of the epidemic. In Yin Ruins, where a large number of oracle bones were unearthed, a complete sewer was also unearthed, indicating that the city already has public health facilities, which is conducive to reducing the occurrence of epidemics.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, under the guidance of traditional philosophical thinking, traditional Chinese medicine became mature, and a theoretical and technical system for preventing and treating diseases was formed based on practical experience. The classic "Huangdi Neijing" of traditional Chinese medicine contains complete ideas for epidemic prevention and control, including the concept of "five elements and six qi" disease-causing, the concept of epidemic prevention of "positive qi remains inside, evil cannot be dealt with", and the concept of "not curing the disease before it is not cured". The "five elements and six qi" theory constructs a macro prediction system for the occurrence of epidemics. Today, it seems that its essence lies in exploring internal and external factors that affect the occurrence of human diseases.
Under effective theoretical guidance, society's understanding of epidemic prevention and control continues to develop. First of all, the understanding of contagiousness deepens. Secondly, there has been progress in the prevention and treatment of epidemics. The third is to continuously improve prevention and control measures.
Ancient China had rich theories and experience in epidemic prevention, but there were also obvious bottlenecks. The first bottleneck of is the lack of organizational epidemic prevention. This is determined by the limitations of the feudal dynasty rule. Some rulers were cruel and unjust, such as Tuoba Gui, the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who was in the south due to epidemics, and ministers asked to withdraw their troops. He actually said, this is "destiny". I just need to conquer the world and don't have to worry about the lack of people. Although some rulers advocate "benevolent government", some of the epidemic prevention measures adopted are only applied to court officials. Among the people, whenever the epidemic is prevalent, local governments and people in the society can only do some temporary shelter, dispersed medicine and other work, without continuous work. Ming Dynasty scholar Lu Kun once called out that every state should allocate special funds to train doctors and purchase medicinal materials to deal with epidemics. But in the backward and chaotic feudal era, these appeals were simply impossible to achieve. Another bottleneck of
is the insufficient protection technology. Although it is recognized that the disease can be contagious, it cannot be stopped fundamentally. This limitation brought ethical problems to ancient epidemic prevention and caused discussion among scholars in the Song Dynasty.
Epidemic prevention and treatment are inseparable from doctors. In ancient China, there were a number of great doctors who stood up during the epidemic, leaving valuable spiritual wealth and coping experience for future generations.
Faced with various plagues, generations of great doctors have not retreated, avoided difficulties and dangers, and repeatedly studied the treatment methods in practice to obtain very valuable experience. But at the same time, we must also recognize the different roles of prevention and treatment. Like Luo Rulan, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, even if he explored effective treatment methods, he still could not prevent the plague and from spreading. The "Shen Bao" records that in 1894 alone, tens of thousands of people died in Guangdong Province, plus nearly 200,000 people died in the ten years of the epidemic. In 1894, Hong Kong adopted quarantine and epidemic prevention measures to deal with the plague, strictly implemented traffic quarantine, and centralized isolation of all infected people. In the end, only 2,552 people died throughout the year. At this time, the medical community had just discovered the pathogen of plague and there was no effective treatment method. Hong Kong has achieved results mainly through organized epidemic prevention. This shows that in the face of severe infectious diseases, no matter how good the treatment is, it is difficult to promote it in a timely and comprehensive manner, and this requires strong epidemic prevention measures to block it. Since modern times, the world has gradually become closer to each other, and epidemic prevention is no longer a matter of a single country and region, but a regional or even a world-wide matter.
After modern Western medicine was introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty, it caused a lot of comparisons and debates about traditional Chinese and Western medicine.
Border areas under the leadership of the Communist Party of China have implemented policies of cooperation between traditional Chinese and Western medicine in both health and epidemic prevention. In 1944, Mao Zedong said at the opening ceremony of Yan'an University: "Whether it is traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine, the function is to cure diseases. ...We put forward the slogan: These two doctors must cooperate." The border areas also widely use Chinese herbal medicine to prevent and treat epidemics.
The founding of New China and the establishment of the socialist system have opened up a new path for my country's health and epidemic prevention cause. The Communist Party of China faithfully practices the fundamental purpose of serving the people and comprehensively strengthens its leadership over health and epidemic prevention work.
The history of epidemic prevention struggle in New China over 70 years tells us that in a large country with a large population, without the strong leadership of the Party, the backbone of the socialist system, the unified and efficient institutional advantages, the "people-centered" policy line, and without the rapid progress of the medical and health industry, it is impossible to achieve such great achievements in the field of public health today.
The following is the full text:
The history of the Chinese nation reproduction for thousands of years is also the history of fighting against diseases. In terms of preventing and controlling infectious diseases that are particularly harmful, our country has accumulated many experiences and lessons from ancient times to the present, which are worth reviewing, thinking and learning.
1. The harm of plagues in history
There are countless plagues recorded in my country's history. The "Chronology of the Epidemic in Ancient China" has compiled 826 records before 1840, and many of them have had an important impact on my country's political, economic and social development.
The Battle of Chibi in the Three Kingdoms Period, Cao Cao's army was defeated by the Sun and Liu coalition forces. There is actually an important influencing factor that was not written in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" - the plague. "The Three Kingdoms" records: "Donald (Cao Cao) went to Chibi and was unfavorable to the war. As a result, the epidemic was severe, and many officials and soldiers died, so they led their troops back."
In the 13th year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, Li Mi "strike 70,000 soldiers to attack Nanzhao", Nanzhao was firmly cleared, the Tang army was exhausted, "soldiers suffered from malaria and hunger and died of hunger", and they were eventually defeated, not only leaving behind the painful memory of "crying and mourning in the south and north of the village, and their sons left their parents and husbands and wives. They all said that millions of people were fighting for barbarians in the front and back, and they never walked once", but also became the fuse of the Anshi Rebellion, causing the Tang Dynasty to decline from prosperity.
In the war against the Mongolian army in the late Southern Song Dynasty, Sichuan Diaoyu City held on to the death toll for 36 years, which shocked the world. At that time, the Mongolian army had an epidemic. According to the "History of Yuan Dynasty", when the Mongolian Khan Mengge personally fought in 1259, "the army stationed in Diaoyu Mountain in Hezhou was in a serious epidemic, and the army was decided to go to the army." This gave the Southern Song army and civilians a chance to breathe, and finally persisted until 1279.
At the time when the Ming Dynasty fell and Qing Dynasty rose, the outbreak of the plague also profoundly affected the historical process. According to historical records, Beijing has been severely epidemic in 1641-1643. The "Chongzhen Records" states: "The epidemic in the capital has caused a death toll of tens of thousands every day." The epidemic is very fierce, and even caused a serious shortage of troops in Beijing's defense. Therefore, it was about to collapse when the peasant army attacked.
or above are just typical examples in some important historical junctures. In fact, in the vast land of China, plagues of different epidemics can be said to be present every year, seriously endangering the lives and health of the people.
2. Exploration and understanding of epidemic prevention
There will be plagues, and there will be a struggle against plagues. In oracle, we can see the early measures taken. For example, the oracle of the oracle says "disease, death", which means not to get close to the patient, maybe because of the epidemic. In Yin Ruins, where a large number of oracle bones were unearthed, a complete sewer was also unearthed, indicating that the city already has public health facilities, which is conducive to reducing the occurrence of epidemics.
"The Book of Zhou" records that the Zhou royal family regularly held the "use the search room to drive away the epidemic" and the officials responsible for "changing national fire in the four seasons to save the epidemic." The word "health (prevention)" commonly used in later generations appeared in the book "Book of Changes". The practice of using drugs to interfere with epidemics has also begun to appear. " Shanhai Jing " contains 7 drugs including fumigation grass.
The Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng, Hubei record the Qin Dynasty where the prisoners who suffered from leprosy were placed. In the Han Dynasty, there were institutions that hosted and treated civilians when the plague was prevalent. The Book of Han records: "In the second year of Yuanshi (2 AD),... the people who are sick and ill will leave their homes to buy medicine." This is the first relatively standardized record in China's epidemic prevention history.
During the Qin and Han dynasties, under the guidance of traditional philosophical thinking, traditional Chinese medicine became mature, and a theoretical and technical system for preventing and treating diseases was formed based on practical experience.The classic "Huangdi Neijing" of traditional Chinese medicine contains complete ideas for epidemic prevention and control, including the concept of "five elements and six qi" disease-causing, the concept of epidemic prevention of "positive qi remains inside, evil cannot be dealt with", and the concept of "not curing the disease before it is not cured". The "five elements and six qi" theory constructs a macro prediction system for the occurrence of epidemics. Today, it seems that its essence lies in exploring internal and external factors that affect the occurrence of human diseases. Whether external factors cause the disease depends on the internal factors "positive energy", that is, the body's constitution and resistance, so enhancing positive energy can prevent diseases. People should strengthen prevention before the onset, or treat early in the onset, or prevent recurrence after treatment. Other traditional Chinese medicine classics such as "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" and " Shennong Bencao Jing " provide dialectical prescriptions and drug knowledge for preventing and treating diseases. These classical theories have profound influence on later generations.
During the Song Dynasty, many epidemics occurred, and the government often sent medical officials to local governments to distribute drug relief. The " Village Doctor Picture " by Li Tang in the Song Dynasty vividly depicts the situation of doctors treating patients. (Data photo)
Under effective theoretical guidance, the society's understanding of epidemic prevention and control continues to develop.
First of all, it deepens the understanding of infectivity. For example, it further distinguished different infectious diseases. Chao Yuan prescription of the Sui Dynasty said that infectious diseases are caused by "rebellious energy" and have special causes. On this basis, Wu Youke, a famous doctor in the Ming Dynasty and the author of "Warm and Epidemics", summarized it into the theory of "resistance" and pointed out that "qi is things, and things are things are qi", and pointed out that the cause of the epidemic may be some invisible substance. This is a hypothesis very close to microbial pathogenics.
Secondly, there has been progress in the prevention and treatment of epidemics. In terms of prevention, Hua Tuo proposed to use Tusu wine, Ge Hong proposed to use Laojun Shenming Powder, and later some people proposed to take Huoxiang Zhengqi Powder frequently. In the Tang and Song dynasties, fragrant medicine was widely used to prevent diseases, and burning Atractylodes in the Ming Dynasty was popular to purify the air. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the vaccination technique for preventing smallpox appeared among the people. After continuous development, the Qing Dynasty introduced it to the palace to suck acne for members of the royal family, and was also promoted in many places. Some foreign envoys also came to learn and brought this technology back to Europe. Later, British medical scientist Zhennar invented vaccination on this basis, laying the foundation for the ultimate global elimination of the severe infectious disease smallpox. In terms of treatment, based on the theory of typhoid fever, a warm disease and plague theory system was formed in the Ming and Qing dynasties, providing more comprehensive theoretical guidance for the clinical practice.
The third is to continuously improve prevention and control measures. The Jin Dynasty had formed institutionalized epidemic prevention measures. "H Jin Shu " records: "The court officials sometimes get sick and infected with more than three people, even if they are not sick, they will not be allowed to enter the palace for a hundred days." In the Song Dynasty, we paid attention to the treatment and cremation of the bodies of those who were infected with the epidemic as soon as possible. In the Qing Dynasty, "acne avoidance" was set up in the palace to isolate and infected with smallpox, and it was stipulated that relatives could only visit after nine days of quarantine.
above, we can see that ancient China had rich theories and experience in epidemic prevention, but there were also obvious bottlenecks.
The first bottleneck is the lack of organizational epidemic prevention. This is determined by the limitations of the feudal dynasty rule. Some rulers were cruel and unjust, such as Tuoba Gui, the Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, who was in the south due to epidemics, and ministers asked to withdraw their troops. He actually said, this is "destiny". I just need to conquer the world and don't have to worry about the lack of people. Although some rulers advocate "benevolent government", some of the epidemic prevention measures adopted are only applied to court officials. Among the people, whenever the epidemic is prevalent, local governments and people in the society can only do some temporary shelter, dispersed medicine and other work, without continuous work. A scholar in the Ming Dynasty, Lu Kun, once called out that every state should allocate special funds to train doctors and purchase medicinal materials to deal with epidemics. But in the backward and chaotic feudal era, these appeals were simply impossible to achieve. Another bottleneck of
is the insufficient protection technology. Although it is recognized that the disease can be contagious, it cannot be stopped fundamentally. This limitation brought ethical problems to ancient epidemic prevention and caused discussion among scholars in the Song Dynasty. The Southern Song Dynasty classicist Cheng Jiong saw that a family member abandoned his relatives who were infected with the disease, so he said that the epidemic was caused by the wrong time and would not be transmitted from person to person, so he asked people to stay and take care of the sick. Zhu Xi believes that the truth should be made public and people should choose to save their relatives on the premise of understanding.Ouyang Shoudao, an educator of the Southern Song Dynasty, further pointed out that "If the qi is connected, it will be sick; if the qi is not connected, it will be sick."
However, under ancient conditions, there has always been a lack of means to make the qi "unable to contact". Wu Youke Although I realize that "those who can control qi are medicines", I also sigh that "when suffering from invisible mixed qi is a disease, no one knows what can control it." Due to scientific and technological factors, the ancients could not know that there were pathogenic particles of different sizes in the air, and could not invent corresponding isolation and protection tools and effectively eliminate pathogens.
3. There are great doctors in the epidemic
Epidemic prevention and treatment are inseparable from doctors. In ancient China, there were a group of great doctors who stood up during the epidemic, leaving valuable spiritual wealth and coping experience for future generations.
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the famous doctor Zhang Zhongjing 's famous work "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" was written in the plague. At that time, there were more than 200 people in the Zhang Zhongjing clan, and 2/3 of them died in 10 years, of which 70% died of the epidemic of "typhoid fever". While being sad and sad, Zhang Zhongjing actively saved the epidemic and later wrote "Treatise on Febrile Diseases". The book carefully distinguishes the changes in symptoms of different stages of people suffering from typhoid fever, proposes corresponding treatment methods, and becomes a model work of traditional Chinese medicine's syndrome differentiation and treatment. What motivates future generations is that he emphasized that doctors should have the spirit of responsibility of "the superiors should help the monarch and relatives with the superiors, and the inferiors should save the poor and humble." In the study of medicine, he implemented the rigorous attitude of "diligently seeking ancient teachings and learning from others", so he was honored as the "medical saint" by later generations.
famous doctor in the Tang Dynasty Sun Simiao 's famous article " great doctor sincerity " established the medical ethics of traditional Chinese medicine, which requires doctors to "begin with great compassion and compassion, and vow to save the suffering of spiritual beings". When treating patients, "do not look forward to the front, worry about good or bad, and protect the body and life." He himself practiced and treated more than 600 patients with lepers with chronic infectious disease who were discriminated against by society. He also proposed the prevention and control idea of "There is a miasma in heaven and earth, and the things produced by heaven and earth are used to prevent it", and especially put forward many health-preserving ideas. His medical ethics and medical skills are deeply admired by later generations and are known as the "King of Medicine".
1232, the Mongolian army besieged Bianjing , and the Jin soldiers were guarding for several months, and a major epidemic broke out. "History of Jin" records: "The epidemic in Bianjing was severe. In 50 days, more than 900,000 people died in various gates." Scholars still have different opinions on what kind of plague was prevalent at that time. At that time, the famous doctor Li Gao founded the theory of spleen and stomach from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, emphasizing that by treating internal injuries to the spleen and stomach, "positive energy is stored inside" to resist disease evils, which is particularly suitable for people with malnutrition in war-torn environments. Regarding acute plague, the "Puji Disinfection Drink" created by Li Gao is very alive, and people carved the prescription on stone tablets for circulating. His student Luo Tianyi also became a famous doctor who was good at saving the epidemic, and he treated many infected officers and soldiers in the Yuan Dynasty army.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many famous prescriptions for epidemic relief that are still being used, and they were summarized by famous doctors in actual combat. Such as Wu Youke's Da Yuan Drink, Ye Tianshi's and Wu Jutong's Yinqiao Powder, Yu Shiyu's Qingwen Baidu Drink, Yang Lishan's Shengzhang Powder, and Wang Qingren's 's Dedu and Blood Soup. From 1893 to 1894, a severe plague pandemic occurred in South China, spreading from Guangdong to Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and continued for several years since then.
In the early stage of the epidemic, Gaozhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Luo Rulan conducted in-depth research. He resolutely entered the epidemic area and repeatedly observed the condition. Finally, he chose Jiedu Huoxue Decoction with additions and subtractions, and used special dosing method to form an effective treatment method. However, the epidemic rekindled in the second year, and using the original prescription again was ineffective. Luo Rulan practiced it again and found that the epidemic poison was even worse, so he doubled the dosage in all aspects, and finally "more than 90% of it was saved." He wrote his successful experience into the book "Compilation of Plague", which was widely spread, and doctors from all over the country followed suit. Guangdong Gaoyao Li Peilan and Fujian Zheng Fenyang both reported success rates of 80% or 90%.
Faced with various plagues, generations of great doctors have not retreated, avoided difficulties and dangers, and repeatedly studied the treatment methods in practice to obtain very valuable experience. But at the same time, we must also recognize the different roles of prevention and treatment. Like Luo Rulan, a famous doctor in the Qing Dynasty, even if he explored effective treatment methods, he still could not stop the plague epidemic. The "Shen Bao" records that in 1894 alone, tens of thousands of people died in Guangdong Province, plus nearly 200,000 people died in the ten years of the epidemic.In 1894, Hong Kong adopted quarantine and epidemic prevention measures to deal with the plague, strictly implemented traffic quarantine, and centralized isolation of all infected people. In the end, only 2,552 people died throughout the year. At this time, the medical community had just discovered the pathogen of plague and there was no effective treatment method. Hong Kong has achieved results mainly through organized epidemic prevention. This shows that in the face of severe infectious diseases, no matter how good the treatment is, it is difficult to promote it in a timely and comprehensive manner, and this requires strong epidemic prevention measures to block it. Since modern times, the world has gradually become closer to each other, and epidemic prevention is no longer a matter of a single country and region, but a regional or even a world-wide matter.
4. Chinese experience that emphasizes both traditional Chinese and Western medicine
After modern Western medicine was introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty, it caused a lot of comparisons and debates about traditional Chinese and Western medicine. However, at the more important public health level, the Qing government has not carried out systematic changes for a long time. From 1910 to 1911, a plague pandemic broke out in Northeast my country, and the epidemic threatened Beijing and Tianjin. At the same time, because the Northeast was the sphere of influence between Japan and Russia, the Qing government faced great diplomatic pressure.
Under this circumstance, the Qing court appointed Western medicine Wu Lien-teh to preside over the epidemic prevention in the three northeastern provinces. Wu Lien-teh effectively calmed the epidemic through a series of isolation and epidemic prevention measures. In 1911, the International Plague Research Association was held in Shenyang. This is the first time that my country has held a global medical seminar.
1910-1911, a plague pandemic broke out in Northeast my country, and the Qing court appointed Western medicine Wu Lien-teh to preside over the epidemic prevention of the three northeastern provinces. Wu Lien-teh effectively calmed the epidemic through a series of isolation and epidemic prevention measures. In 1911, the International Plague Research Association was held in Shenyang. This is the first time that my country has held a global medical seminar. The picture shows Wu Lien-teh in charge of epidemic prevention and implementation of isolation and inspection measures in Northeast China during the plague in Northeast China. (Data photo)
After the founding of the Republic of China, a nationwide health and epidemic prevention mechanism was gradually established, and institutions such as the Central Epidemic Prevention Department, the General Administration Office of the Three East Provinces, the Northwest Epidemic Prevention Department, the Mengsui Epidemic Prevention Department and the Port Quarantine Department were established. All provinces and cities have established health management agencies with epidemic prevention functions. In 1916, 1930 and 1944, the state promulgated the "Regulations on Prevention of Infectious Diseases" or the "Regulations on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" three times. Due to the slow development of health, Chinese medicine and Chinese medicine are still relying solely on prevention and treatment of epidemics in urban and rural areas. At that time, there were arguments about the scientific nature of traditional Chinese medicine, and even proposed to abolish traditional Chinese medicine.
In fact, traditional Chinese medicine has long been absorbing new knowledge and participating in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. For example, from 1917 to 1918, the gemoplague epidemic in Shanxi and other places occurred, and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners Cao Yuansen and Yang Haoru went to Datong to cooperate with Western medicine in epidemic prevention; in 1919, cholera epidemic occurred in Langfang, and traditional Chinese medicine Kong Bohua , Yang Haoru and others participated in the prevention and control. They went deep into the village to treat patients and were welcomed. The experience of traditional Chinese medicine in saving the epidemic was later recorded in the book "Analysis on the Treatment of Eight Symptoms of Infectious Diseases".
In 1924, a plague broke out again in Shanxi. The Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Improvement Research Association "selected traditional Chinese medicine and could understand Western medicine treatment and acupuncture methods" and went to preside over the epidemic prevention. They combined traditional Chinese and Western medicine and controlled the epidemic in a timely manner. Afterwards, detailed reports listing the treatment conditions of traditional Chinese and Western medicine were prepared. These work prove that the collaboration between Chinese and Western medicine is obviously more valuable.
The government of the Republic of China later passed the "Regulations on Traditional Chinese Medicine" to legalize traditional Chinese medicine. During the Anti-Japanese War from 1931 to 1945, traditional Chinese medicine was included in the wartime epidemic prevention system. Traditional Chinese Medicine Rescue Hospital, mainly established with the Central National Medical Center, has actively rescued military and civilians in Nanjing, Chongqing and other places. Due to the interruption of the source of the antimalarial drug quinine, a Sinopharm Research Office was also established in Dakou. Through research and experimental prescriptions, it was confirmed that the traditional Chinese medicine Changshan has good effect in treating malaria. The effective ingredient Changshan alkali was extracted and its chemical structure was determined, which attracted the attention of the world's pharmacy community.
Border areas under the leadership of the Communist Party of China have implemented policies of cooperation between traditional Chinese and Western medicine in both health and epidemic prevention. In 1944, Mao Zedong said at the opening ceremony of Yan'an University: "Whether it is traditional Chinese medicine or Western medicine, the function is to cure diseases. ...We put forward the slogan: These two doctors must cooperate." The border areas also widely use Chinese herbal medicine to prevent and treat epidemics.
The founding of New China and the establishment of the socialist system have opened up a new path for my country's health and epidemic prevention cause.The Communist Party of China faithfully practices the fundamental purpose of serving the people and comprehensively strengthens its leadership over health and epidemic prevention work.
In August 1950, the first national health conference of New China was held, and the health work policy of "prevention first" and "unity between traditional Chinese and Western medicine" was established; in 1951, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Instructions of the Central Committee on Strengthening Health and Epidemic Prevention and Medical Work", making comprehensive arrangements for national epidemic prevention work.
For decades, the country has vigorously promoted vaccination, continued to carry out patriotic health campaigns, established a nationwide health and epidemic prevention system, improved laws and regulations on infectious disease prevention, and actively carried out special prevention and control of plague, schistosomiasis, malaria, leprosy, tuberculosis, AIDS, etc. Smallpox was basically eliminated in 1961, and polio was eliminated in 2000, and the incidence of many infectious diseases dropped to historical lowest levels. After entering the 21st century, my country has reorganized and established a national disease prevention and control system, further strengthened the prevention and control of public health and infectious diseases, and successfully responded to new infectious diseases such as SARS, new avian influenza, and the Nebuni virus. The public health and preventive medicine have been continuously improved, and the national health has been well guaranteed. The average life expectancy has increased from 35 years old before the founding of New China to 77 years old. The people have a greater sense of gain, happiness and security.
The history of epidemic prevention struggle in New China over 70 years tells us that in a large country with a large population, without the strong leadership of the Party, the backbone of the socialist system, the unified and efficient institutional advantages, the "people-centered" policy line, and without the rapid progress of the medical and health industry, it is impossible to achieve such great achievements in the field of public health today.
chief researcher Tu Youyou took the lead in screening out Artemisia annua as the first choice drug of antimalarial books from a large number of ancient Chinese medicine books and discovered the ether extracts in the effective part of Artemisia annua, allowing Chinese medicine to save the lives of millions of people around the world. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015. The picture shows Tu Youyou, Artemisia annua and antimalarial drugs. (Data photo)
In this process, traditional Chinese medicine and medicine also played an active role, showing many characteristics. From 1954 to 1955, a type B encephalitis broke out in Shijiazhuang. Traditional Chinese medicine doctor Guo Keming successfully treated many patients. After on-site investigation by experts from the Ministry of Health, the effectiveness of the Chinese medicine law was affirmed and promoted nationwide. In 1956, when type B encephalitis in Beijing was prevalent, the famous Chinese medicine doctor Pu Fuzhou used Shijiazhuang therapy with poor results. Later, the anti-humidification medicine was added according to the situation in Beijing, and good results were achieved. This shows that traditional Chinese medicine needs to treat epidemics in differentiation and treatment.
In 1967, my country launched the May 23 project to develop new antimalarial drugs. Tu Youyou discovered and extracted artemisinin from the traditional Chinese medicine Artemisia celadon. After a large-scale and long-term verification by national cooperation, it was confirmed that artemisinin has good antimalarial effects. Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015. This shows that there are many pearls and jades in the Treasure House of Traditional Chinese Medicine worth exploring.
SARS broke out in 2003. Faced with this new infectious disease that was unknown to the world medical community at that time, while implementing effective prevention and control, traditional Chinese medicine vigorously played a therapeutic role, achieving good results in reducing fever time and reducing sequelae, which was recognized by experts from the World Health Organization. This reflects another advantage of traditional Chinese medicine in treating epidemics. According to the traditional Chinese medicine theory of the relationship between evil and good, traditional Chinese medicine can carry out dialectical treatment when the pathogen is unknown and treat patients as soon as possible.
Obviously, while our country continues to vigorously improve the level of medical science and technology and improve the prevention and control mechanism of infectious diseases, and give full play to the role of traditional medicine and strengthen the coordination of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, we will surely push forward the epidemic prevention work in the new era.
At present, the Chinese people are in a severe fight against the new coronary pneumonia epidemic.With the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, the material foundation guarantee laid since the founding of New China, especially since the reform and opening up, the "Chinese spirit" raised by patriotism and reform and innovation, and the tenacious struggle of medical staff who are continuing and not afraid of sacrifice, the heroic Chinese people will surely be able to defeat all kinds of evil and epidemic demons and achieve the final victory in the fight against the epidemic!
(the author is a professor at Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine)
Source Beijing Daily Client
Author Zheng Hong
Editor: Yuan Xin
Process Editor Liu Weili
