[A brief history of prevention and treatment of diphtheria in modern TCM].
During this 200 years, traditional medical professionals had paid high attention to diphtheria, an epidemic disease, and had underwent a whole understanding process from the initial stage to active and gradual improvement of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment etc. Many physicians summarized a series of effective treatment, defined "nourishing yin and clearing the lung (Yong Yin Qing Fei)" as basic principle, with Yang Yin Qing Fei Decoction as a specific prescription exclusively applied for diphtheria and obtained considerable curative effect. TCM did make contributions to its prevention and treatment before effective treatment in biomedicine appeared in China. Meanwhile, the measures and experiences was a great innovation in modern TCM and provided valuable experiences for conquering epidemic diseases.
Yu
Yong-Yan
YY
China Institute for History of Medicine and Medical Literature, China Academy of TCM, Beijing 100700.
D002681:China; D004165:Diphtheria; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010820:Physicians; D016709:Yin-Yang