Traditional Chinese herbal medicine at the forefront battle against COVID-19: Clinical experience and scientific basis.
Phytomedicine
; 80: 153337, 2021 Jan.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-799482
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Throughout the 5000-year history of China, more than 300 epidemics were recorded. Traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCM) has been used effectively to combat each of these epidemics' infections, and saved many lives. To date, there are hundreds of herbal TCM formulae developed for the purpose of prevention and treatment during epidemic infections. When COVID-19 ravaged the Wuhan district in China in early January 2020, without a deep understanding about the nature of COVID-19, patients admitted to the TCM Hospital in Wuhan were immediately treated with TCM and reported later with >90% efficacy.APPROACH:
We conducted conduct a systematic survey of various TCM herbal preparations used in Wuhan and to review their efficacy, according to the published clinical data; and, secondly, to find the most popular herbs used in these preparations and look into the opportunity of future research in the isolation and identification of bioactive natural products for fighting COVID-19.RESULTS:
Although bioactive natural products in these herbal preparations may have direct antiviral activities, TCM employed for fighting epidemic infections was primarily based on the TCM theory of restoring the balance of the human immune system, thereby defeating the viral infection indirectly. In addition, certain TCM teachings relevant to the meridian system deserve better attention. For instance, many TCM herbal preparations target the lung meridian, which connects the lung and large intestine. This interconnection between the lung, including the upper respiratory system, and the intestine, may explain why certain TCM formulae showed excellent relief of lung congestion and diarrhea, two characteristics of COVID-19 infection.CONCLUSION:
There is good reason for us to learn from ancient wisdom and accumulated clinical experience, in combination with cutting edge science and technologies, to fight with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic now and emerging new coronaviruses in the future.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Antiviral Agents
/
Plants, Medicinal
/
Drugs, Chinese Herbal
/
COVID-19 Drug Treatment
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Topics:
Traditional medicine
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Phytomedicine
Journal subject:
Complementary Therapies
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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