Lessons From China: 4 Stages of Corona Virus Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery

The Chinese medicine doctors who were on the front line of treating corona virus in China, identified four stages to help in disease prevention, treatment, and recovery.

The first stage is prevention and is to be maintained through social distancing, washing hands, isolation, and other preventive measures.  Some doctors and hospitals reported using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and herbal medicine in particular, to help prevent medical staff from becoming infected.  One county hospital in Henan even reported zero infections within hospital staff, possibly due in part to preventive measures requiring hospital staff to take herbal medicines. (1)

The second phase as outlined by Chinese doctors, is marked by the initial onset of symptoms including fever, sore throat, and dry cough.  At this stage, it has been reported that patients who received herbal medicines saw significantly better results than those using only Western medicines.  Some of the herbs were similar to what was used to treat SARS. (2)

Since the time of SARS, many researchers and doctors have explored the therapeutic potential of herbs.  Houttuynia cordata (You Xing Cao) has been identified as a potential plant species for treating SARS - COVID.  This particular plant also contains other anti-viral compounds, and has demonstrated positive research outcomes for herpes simplex, norovirus, dengue, and HIV. (3)

Given its therapeutic potential, Houttuynia cordata is also used in treating the third stage of corona virus, which is marked by pneumonia and late stage disease progression.

The fourth stage identified by the Chinese doctors is the recovery phase.

For more details about the information in this report see: Chinese Medicine for Coronavirus

Sources

1. Specific Applications of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 & Integration of TCM into Educational Curriculum: Dr. Yang Ting, Translated by Lori Hsu; 2/10/20; Published by elotus, March 2020

2. How Coronavirus (COVID-19) is Treated with TCM in China: Dr. Chen, John, Webinar, March, 17, 2020, Published on Youtube.

3. A Current Update on the Phytopharmacological Aspects of Houttuynia cordata Thunb; Manish Kumar, Satyendra K. Prasad, and S. Hemalath; Pharmacogn Rev. 2014 Jan-Jun; 8(15): 22–35

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