A herbal drug used for two millennia in China to treat MALARIA. Its action derives from sesquiterpene lactone, a substance that cuts the number of blood-borne malarial parasites.
Modern Chinese medicine has rejected entirely the conception of disease due to evil spirits and treated by exorcism. Great advances in scientific knowledge in China have been made since 1949, removing much of the superstitious aspect from herbal medicine and placing it on a sound scientific basis. Advances in the field of Chinese Herbal Medicine are highlighted in an authoritative work: Chinese Clinical Medicine, by C.P. Li MD (Pub: Fogarty International Centre, Bethseda, USA).
Since the barefoot doctors (paramedics) have been grafted into the public Health Service, mass preventative campaigns with public participation of barefoot doctors have led to a reduction in the mortality of infectious disease.
Chinese doctors were using Ephedra 5000 years ago for asthma. For an equal length of time they used Quinghaosu effectively for malaria. The Chinese first recorded goose-grease as the perfect base for ointments, its penetrating power endorsed by modern scientific research.
While Western medicine appears to have a limited capacity to cure eczema, a modern Chinese treatment evolved from the ancient past is changing the lives of many who take it. The treatment was brought to London by Dr Ding-Hui Luo and she practised it with crowded surgeries in London’s Chinatown.
Chinese herbalism now has an appeal to general practitioners looking for alternative and traditional therapies for various diseases where conventional treatment has proved to be ineffective.
See entry: BAREFOOT DOCTOR’S MANUAL.
Address. Hu Shilin, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China. ... chinese medicine
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