Allusions to fighting epidemics in ancient times

There have been several major plagues in ancient Chinese history. In times of crisis, some people always stepped forward to save the people. Their stories are still touching to read.

The story of Zhang Zhongjing’s epidemic control

In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, wars were frequent and the people suffered from wars. To make matters worse, several major plagues occurred during this period, and thousands of people died. Zhang Zhongjing lived in this context.

Zhang Zhongjing’s family was originally a wealthy family in Nanyang, with more than 200 people in the family. When he was young, Zhang Zhongjing liked to read medical books and medical classics. In addition, there were many books in his family, so he had considerable medical knowledge from an early age.

When Zhang Zhongjing was twelve years old, his father passed away. Two years later, his mother contracted the plague and became ill. Medical conditions at that time were very limited, and many people were left to fend for themselves. What's more, prophecy was popular at that time. Many people got sick and instead of seeking help from doctors, they sought help from gods. Therefore, when the plague came, many people always died.

Two-thirds of Zhang Zhongjing’s family died from the plague in less than ten years.

Statue of Medical Saint Zhang Zhongjing

Seeing his relatives falling ill one by one, Zhang Zhongjing could not sit still. Based on the knowledge he learned, he went up the mountain to collect a large cart of medicinal herbs, and when he came back, he made a pot of medicinal soup, hoping to help his relatives and neighbors. However, people did not believe Zhang Zhongjing at all.

In order to dispel everyone's doubts, Zhang Zhongjing tried the medicine himself and fed it to his mother. After a few days, Zhang Zhongjing was safe and sound, and his mother's illness gradually improved. At this time, people believed that Zhang Zhongjing's decoction could really cure diseases, so they took it one after another. This experience of treating the plague was unforgettable for Zhang Zhongjing and prompted him to devote himself to the cause of epidemic control.

Zhang Zhongjing visited famous doctors, read medical classics thoroughly, and combined with his own practical experience, finally wrote the epoch-making clinical medical masterpiece "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases".

The story of Li Dongyuan’s epidemic control

In 1232 AD, Mongolian cavalry besieged Bianliang, the capital of the Jin Kingdom. At this time, a plague broke out in Bianliang City, and the number of people killed every day ranged from more than a thousand to three to four thousand. In just three months, the huge city of Bianliang was wailing everywhere, shrouded in the threat of death.

Many doctors participated in treating patients, but it was not effective at all, and people still died in batches.

At this time, an old man over fifty years old fell into deep thought: "Why do these people become more seriously ill after treatment? Is there any other reason besides the plague?" The old man's name was Li Gao, in his later years, called himself Old Man Dongyuan. In his early years, he spent all his family assets to study medicine with Zhang Yuanyu, a famous doctor at that time, and became one of the four famous masters of Jin and Yuan Dynasties in the history of our country.

When the Mongols besieged Bianliang, Li Dongyuan was in the city. He felt that after the Mongols besieged Bianliang for several months, the people were hungry and tired, which had damaged their spleen and stomach. The doctor who treated the plague at that time gave them diaphoretic medicine, which depleted their vitality and made their condition worse.

Li Dongyuan treats diseases

Based on his many years of medical experience, he concluded that the plague at this time was not caused by the disease, but because the people had injured their spleen and stomach. For this reason, he prepared a prescription to replenish the middle qi and regulate the spleen and stomach of the patient.

Li Dongyuan’s measures were indeed effective, and many people were cured. He made the medicine he prepared into pills and distributed them to soldiers and common people. The raging plague in Bianliang City finally stopped.

The story of Wu Youke’s epidemic control

In the late Ming Dynasty, wars raged, and famines and droughts occurred one after another in North China, northwest China, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Against this background, refugees spread everywhere, people and animals died one after another, and the plague was triggered. This plague turned the prosperous Jiangnan into a hell on earth. "There are more than a hundred families in a lane, no one is immune, and there are dozens of people in each family, and no one is left alive."

Many doctors hold ancient medical classics and are still using Zhang Zhongjing's prescriptions for treating typhoid fever to treat the plague, but they are not effective at all.

At this time, a doctor named Wu Youxing (also known as Youke) stood up and shouted: "Stop looking for treatments from ancient prescriptions!"

Wu Youke went deep into the front line. As a doctor, he discovered that this plague could not be explained by the typhoid fever in the medical books at all, and new treatment methods must be adopted. In order to find the source of the disease, he investigated in cowsheds and pig pens, and finally discovered that the plague was caused by "violent anger."

Wu Youke's story was put on the screen

This kind of "violent energy" is different from the traditional wind, cold, dampness and heat. It comes from the patient's mouth and nose, and then passes through The gas is transmitted to other people.

Whether violent gas can cause plague depends on the concentration of violent gas and the body's immunity; different hostile gas invades in different parts and causes different diseases; although human plagues and animal plagues, although They are all caused by hostility, but due to different species, the treatment methods are also different.

After finding the cause of the disease, Wu Youke developed a prescription to treat the plague - Dayuan Yin based on his many years of medical experience and practice. This prescription still had a very good prevention and treatment effect during the SARS period in 2003.