The Outstanding Performance of TCM in Fights Against SARS and COVID-19
（Original article in Chinese was published in China Daily on Aug. 6, 2021）
In normal times, Chinese and Western medicine doctors each practice their own medicine. Because of the differences in patient conditions and diseases, it is impossible to compare the pros and cons of Chinese and Western medicine. However, when these two different medical systems face the same disease and each show their skills, we can compare their effectiveness with statistically significant results.
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In fact, after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, there were cases of Chinese medicine treating infectious diseases as early as the 1950s. In 1956, a viral infectious disease Japanese encephalitis pandemic occurred in Shijiazhuang, and the mortality rate of western medicine treatment was as high as 30%. Premier Zhou asked Mr. Pu Fuzhou, who said that Bai Hu Tang can be used for treatment. After the application, the clinical effect was very good, and the mortality rate fell below 10%. Mr. Pu treated 167 cases of Japanese encephalitis patients, and none of them died.
In the fight against SARS in 2003, Chinese medicine took an active part and performed better than Western medicine. Mr. Deng Tietao, a famous Chinese medicine doctor, told the visiting researcher Jia Qian from the Ministry of Science and Technology: According to the Five Movements and Six Qi, this febrile disease will appear in China this year, and it will disappear on its own when it gets hot.
Mr. Jia Qian recalled: “On April 26, we invited the SARS front-line Chinese medicine experts from Guangzhou to Beijing to hold an academic seminar on the successful treatment of SARS with Chinese medicine. In the afternoon of the same day, a traditional culture research institution in Beijing told me that according to the Five Movements and Six Qi, SARS in Beijing will end on May 21. Indeed, there was no new SARS patients after May 22. Other people in China also use the Five Movements and Six Qi to predict SARS, and the results were relatively accurate. In the past, the Five Movements and Six Qi theory was regarded as a superstition and discarded. We didn’t know that we had thrown away an essence of Chinese medicine. Later, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine commissioned Professor Gu Zhishan from Anhui College of Traditional Chinese Medicine to preside over the study of the Five Movements and Six Qi. The results from Professor Gu’s research were basically the same as the SARS situations. Western medicine cannot predict disease, but Chinese medicine can. Therefore, predicting the disease and its trend and preparing for it in advance is a major advantage of Chinese medicine."
"Master Deng said: I have a different opinion from Academician Zhong Nanshan. Traditional Chinese medicine don’t focus on virus. You don't need to know what the enemy looks like. You only need to drive it out of the body. Everyone knows about the head nurse Ye Xin, who unfortunately died of SARS. She was regarded as a hero and a memorial was built to honor her. At that time, there was another head nurse in the general hospital who also infected SARS. Her husband was Master Deng’s apprentice. Master Deng told her to immediately stop taking the western medicine and taking Chinese medicine instead. She was healed after ten days. Her husband told us that it was fortunate that my wife listened to Master Deng and used Chinese medicine, so she didn’t become a martyr."
Deng Tietao
At that time, the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine led by Deng Tietao treated more than 70 patients. No one died. The average time for fever to go down was 3 days. No medical staff were infected, and no patient had relapse. Of the 117 patients treated in the Western-medicine hospital where Academician Zhong Nanshan worked, 10 died; among them, 71 patients received TCM interventional treatment, and only one died. It is also worth mentioning that patients treated with Chinese medicine have no sequelae, while a large number of patients treated with Western medicine have pulmonary fibrosis and femoral head necrosis, and the treatment cost is much higher than that of Chinese medicine.
Liu Bichen, known as the “King of Pediatrics” in Beijing, has participated in the treatment of SARS as an expert in traditional Chinese medicine. He pointed out: “Femoral head necrosis is mainly caused by calcium deficiency. Why did those patients have calcium deficiency? Because too big doses of hormones were used! For acute symptoms, hormone dose is usually 40-60 grams a day. During SARS, 120 grams were used at one time!"
According to WHO, there were 8,422 SARS cases worldwide and 919 deaths, with an average fatality rate of nearly 11%. The countries and regions with more than 100 cases are:
Mainland China: 5327 cases, 349 deaths, 6.6%
Hong Kong, China: 1755 cases, 300 deaths, 17.1%
Taiwan, China: 665 cases, 180 deaths, 27.1%
Canada: 251 cases, 41 deaths, 16.3%
Singapore: 238 cases, 33 deaths, 13.9%
Based on the above statistics, China’s SARS patients had the lowest mortality rate. Assuming that the advancement of Western medicine in Mainland China is the same as that of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Canada, China’s mortality rate was significantly lower than those of the above-mentioned countries and regions. The only reasonable explanation is that Chinese medicine had played a key role. The mortality rate of SARS patients in Guangdong Province was only 3.8%, and the role of traditional Chinese medicine is more significant in that region. The reason is that Mr. Deng Tietao’s team in Guangdong, had created the world record of five zeros: zero death, zero transfers, and zero infection case of medical staff, zero sequelae, zero recurrence.
In fact, the Ministry of Health and Academician Zhong Nanshan are fully aware of the outstanding performance and prominent role of Chinese medicine in the fight against SARS, but unfortunately no one has stood up to acknowledge it. Among the collectives and individuals whose contribution had been recognized for fighting SARS, there was not even one Chinese medicine practitioner! The prominent role of Chinese medicine in overcoming SARS has been buried. Not only is it injustice, but more importantly, it has delayed the revival of Chinese medicine by as long as 17 years! This is a huge loss to the development of Chinese medicine and the health of the people.
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Compared with the fight against SARS, Chinese medicine has participated in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier, on a larger scale, and played a more prominent role. It has received strong support from the Central Committee, the Health Commission, and even the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The external environment is obviously better than that during SARS period.
According to Jiang Jian, Director of the Medical Administration of the Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as of February 17, 2020, a total of more than 630 Chinese medicine hospitals in 28 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) have sent more than 3,100 medical personnel to support Hubei province. The Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine sent a team of experts led by three academicians Zhang Boli, Huang Luqi, and Tong Xiaolin, and four groups of national TCM medical teams totaling 588 people to Wuhan, and they were stationed in Hubei Province Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital, Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, and Jiangxia Fangcang Hospital, and Leishenshan Hospital. At present, the provincial level expert groups of all provinces have TCM experts as members. Twenty six provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities) and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have established a separate provincial TCM expert groups. As of Sept. 17th, Chinese medicine doctors participated in the treatment of a total of 60,107 confirmed cases, which is 85.20% of all cases across the country.
Academician Tong Xiaolin:
The practice of Chinese medicine in treating patients with COVID-19 shows:
—— Chinese medicine is not only good at preventing and treating mild cases, but also capable of treating severe and emergency cases. Liu Qingquan, president of Jiangxia Fangcang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that in the past, the consensus in society was that traditional Chinese medicine did not play a big role in emergency care. This understanding is biased, and it is very one-sided and superficial. "If you really go into the ICU and really participate in the treatment of severe epidemics such as SARS, influenza A and dengue fever, you will find that without the intervention of traditional Chinese medicine, you can hardly imagine how many more people will die and how many critically ill patients will survive. " Liu Qingquan said, there are many examples of this, such as gastrointestinal insufficiency after shock. Western medicine has no good solutions. Traditional Chinese medicine uses syndrome differentiation and treatment can include nasal feeding, Chinese medicine enema, moxibustion, acupuncture, etc. The effects are very good. Those Western medicine critical condition specialists nodded in praise when they saw the effects of these Chinese medicine interventions. Another example is that critically ill patients often also have multiple organ dysfunctions, which may lead to shock, combined with renal insufficiency, gastrointestinal insufficiency, and coagulation dysfunction. For treatment plans, one should consider the overall situation of the patients, not just COVID infection, to best improve the patients’heath and ability to fight infection. This is in line with the overall philosophy of Chinese medicine and is the strength of Chinese medicine. The reason why people think that Chinese medicine is not very useful in emergency situations is because the western medicine emergency technology has been more prominent since the last century, but Chinese medicine is definitely not contingent or non-existent in this field. Because of various reasons, the degree of intervention of Chinese medicine in emergency situations is not as high as in the past, and the number of Chinese medicine doctors studying acute and critical illnesses has decreased a lot.
According to Xinmin Evening News, Ms. Zhu from Shanghai A4 Ward was admitted to the hospital and treated with Western medicine for more than a week. Although her condition improved, her liver function was abnormal. Her liver function improved after taking Chinese medicine for two days, which surprised clinical Western medicine doctors. Tong Xiaolin, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that in the study of critically ill patients, 484 of the 662 patients used Chinese medicine decoction, and 15 died. Another 178 patients did not use traditional Chinese medicine decoction, and 56 died. The mortality rate of the traditional Chinese medicine decoction group dropped by 82.2%. The mortality rate of the severely ill group taking traditional Chinese medicine decoction is 3.1%, which is much lower than the 13% mortality rate of the group without taking Chinese medicine.
——Traditional Chinese medicine can not only play a prominent role in the treatment of integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine, but also can be used independently treatment. According to the data released on February 19, the effective rate of Feiyan No. 1 from the Eighth People's Hospital of Guangzhou reached 94.21% in treating COVID. On February 24, the Beijing Municipal Health Commission announced that the total effective rate of Traditional Chinese Medicine for the treatment of COVID-19 was 92%. The cure rate of traditional Chinese medicine in Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province is as high as 70%. More than 500 people in Wuhan took Chinese medicine prescribed by Xie Jun, a doctor of general medicine, and none of them were infected with COVID-19. With the progress of epidemic prevention and control, traditional Chinese medicine has become more and more important, even playing a leading role. The Jinyintan Hospital, which was staffed by the National Team of Traditional Chinese Medicine, accounted for more than half of the total number of patients cured in Wuhan hospitals. This is a remarkable achievement.
——Qingfei Paidu Decoction has excellent curative effect and has become a special medicine for COVID-19. Ge Youwen, a distinguished researcher of the Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, based on a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of COVID-19, and overall consideration of the prescriptions in the "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" by Zhang Zhongjing, a famous doctor in the Han Dynasty, decided to combine Maxing Shigan Decoction, Shegan Mahuang Decoction, Xiao Chaihu Decoction, and Wu Lingsan Decoction. He used 21 herbs from these four prescriptions to make a new prescription. These prescriptions work together to produce several times the effects than the sum of each herb. The cold, damp and heat toxins are discharged faster. This prescription is "Qingfei Paidu Decoction".
Ge Youwen
On March 1, 2020, Wang Rongbing, chief physician of the Department of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine of Beijing Ditan Hospital, said in response to reporters that Qingfei Paidu Decoction has been used in 66 designated medical institutions in 10 provinces. Of the 1183 cases observed, 640 were discharged, and 457 cases showed improvement, and the effects were very good. At the press conference of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council, Professor Wang Wei, vice president of Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, pointed out that Qingfei Paidu Decoction has been widely used in 28 provinces and cities and has received good results. The clinical treatment group observed 66 designated units across the country. As of April 12, 2020, 1,262 patients were admitted, including 57 severe cases, and 1,253 were cured and discharged, reaching 99.28%. None of the cases have changed from mild to severe, and from ordinary to critical.
Wang Wei said that through various clinical observations and preliminary basic research, it has been shown that Qingfei Paidu Decoction is suitable for general prescriptions for mild, common and severe cases of COVID-19. It has the characteristics of being effective quickly and safely. Therefore, we believe that Qingfei Paidu Decoction is an especially suitable treatment for COVID-19. According to academician Zhang Boli, relevant preliminary basic research has shown that this prescription can regulate multiple cytokine activation signaling pathways, focusing on the lungs, while providing protection for multiple organs, inhibiting virus replication, and avoiding or alleviating inflammatory symptoms. Academician Zhang Boli said: "In the "COVID-19 Diagnosis and Treatment Program (Trial Seventh Edition)" recommended by the National Health Commission and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qingfei Paidu Decoction is listed as for treating mild, common, severe, and critically ill patients.
——Traditional Chinese medicine is the main force in the fight against COVID-19. Zhang Boli, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, consultant of the Disease Control Group of the National Ministry of Health, and expert of COVID-19 epidemic joint prevention and control working mechanism scientific research expert group said that traditional Chinese medicine played an important role in the fight against SARS in 2003 and made the world aware of the strength of traditional Chinese medicine.
Academician Zhang Boli
In the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese medicine has "changed from a participant to the main force." At the State Council’s Joint Prevention and Control Press Conference, Yu Yanhong, a member of the National Health Commission and Party Secretary of the Bureau of Traditional Chinese Medicine, released a set of data: 74,187 of the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country have used Chinese medicine, accounting for 91.5%, of which 61,449 people in Hubei Province have used Chinese medicine, accounting for 90.6%. Observation of clinical efficacy shows that the total effective rate of traditional Chinese medicine has reached more than 90%. From the observation of clinical efficacy, traditional Chinese medicine can effectively relieve symptoms, reduce the likelihood for the development of mild or common case to severe cases, improve the cure rate, reduce the mortality rate, and promote recovery. Traditional Chinese medicine, featuring holistic regulation, prevention of disease, and multiple targets, has become a bright spot in the fight against the pandemic and the prevention and control of the pandemic. Liu Qingquan, president of Jiang Xiachun’s Fangcang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said: “This is the first time that Chinese medicine has taken such a major role in the state-level epidemic prevention and control. We have handed in satisfactory answers-zero aggravation, zero relapse, and zero infection."
Li Yu, director of the Science and Technology Department of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also stated at a press conference on the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council on April 14 that Chinese medicine has played an important role in the fight against COVID-19. Li Yu said that the State Council has set up a special TCM group under the scientific research team of the joint prevention and control mechanism of COVID-19. Based on the preliminary clinical observations, the clinical treatment team under the special TCM group suggested the "three medicines and three prescriptions" for treatment and prevention of COVID-19: the "three medicines" are Jinhua Qinggan Granules, Lianhua Qingwen Granules and Capsules, and Xuebijing Injection. The "three prescriptions" are Qingfei Paidu Decoction, Huashi Baidu Decoction and Xuanfei Baidu Decoction. "
"The Chinese method is the only method we know that has been proven to be successful." "In the face of an unknown new virus, China has adopted large scale, flexible and active prevention and control measures, and used ancient methods combined with modern technology.” This is what Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, said at the press conference of the China-WHO Joint Expert Investigation Team on COVID-19.
As the global pandemic spreads, people from other countries are also interested in the anti-epidemic effect of Chinese medicine. On the YouTube website, Prince Kuragin said: "Chinese medicine has helped me a lot, especially acupuncture." M9 said: "It is wise to use Chinese medicine to fight COVID-19. I hope to get more information about the effects of Chinese medicine." Saint Trinianz, thought of the role of traditional Chinese medicine during SARS: "I have been thinking about the role of traditional Chinese medicine in the fight against COVID-19... In the fight against SARS, the effect of traditional Chinese medicine was impressive!" 6packter praised the Chinese culture so extensively and profoundly: "In adversity, Chinese culture can provide a lot of resources for reference."
Traditional Chinese medicine has outstanding effects in the prevention and control of the pandemic. Especially in the treatment of COVID-19, it has played a major role. Despite the unsatisfactory development of traditional Chinese medicine in our country, based on the success of TCM in the combats against SARS and COVID-19, we can say that the Chinese medicine is still firmly rooted in Mainland China.