Exploration of Pandemic-like Disease
Explore the Herbs & Prescriptions Treating 瘟病 (WenBing, the Plague & Contagious Disease defined by Chinese Herbal Medicine).
- Will use ‘WenBing’ to represent the disease we are interested & exploring.
Explore in Herbs:
- There are 8 herbs’ treatments/cures contain words ‘瘟’(but not ‘大头瘟’,‘虾蟆瘟’), ‘时疫’, ‘时气’&‘传染’, ‘天行’
- The 8 herbs & their cures are listed below:
- By comparing the herb components of prescriptions may treat WenBing (in ‘Explore in Prescriptions’ part), it seems there are more options if using multiple herbs to make a prescription formula to treat the disease.
Explore in Prescriptions:
There are 51 prescriptions’ name contain the Chinese character ‘瘟’;
- After briefly reviewing above prescriptions’ functions & cures, the following 29 name-selected prescriptions could be related to treating WenBing:
‘白避瘟散’, ‘避瘟丹’, ‘逼瘟丹’, ‘避瘟明目清上散’, ‘避瘟散’, ‘避瘟杀鬼丸’, ‘避瘟丸’, ‘除秽靖瘟丹’, ‘除瘟化毒散’, ‘除瘟化毒汤’, ‘除瘟化痰汤’, ‘除瘟救苦丹’, ‘除瘟散’, ‘大辟瘟丹’, ‘防毒气防瘟疫灵药’, ‘解毒辟瘟丹’, ‘解热辟瘟丹’, ‘解瘟丹’, ‘救急避瘟散’, ‘灵宝辟瘟丹’, ‘辟瘟丹’, ‘辟瘟集祥香’, ‘辟瘟散’, ‘辟瘟汤’, ‘辟瘟丸’, ‘辟瘟线香’, ‘辟邪避瘟丹’, ‘清瘟败毒饮’, ‘清瘟解毒丸’
- By checking the components of above prescriptions, the word cloud of top 100 frequently used herbs in the 29 prescriptions are show as below:
There are 376 prescriptions selected by requiring the Cures/Treatments contain words ‘瘟’(but not ‘大头瘟’,‘虾蟆瘟’), ‘时疫’, ‘时气’&‘传染’, ‘天行’
- After briefly reviewing the functions & cures, a few prescriptions are eliminated, and a total 280 prescriptions left for higher potential related to they plague & contagious viral diseases we’d like to be interested
- By checking the components of above prescriptions, the word cloud of top 100 frequently used herbs in treating WenBing prescriptions are shown as below:
- Some thoughts on above findings and can do more researches on:
- the herb ‘甘草’ (Licorice, or Radix Glycyrrhiza), which occurred most among picked prescriptions, is a common ‘supporting’ herb used among prescriptions.
(see the wordcloud chart of the herb component frequencies among all prescriptions on Prescription Page
‘Supporting’ herb means it help ‘balance’/‘buffering’ the different herbs’ functions in the prescription, to help them work together.
On the other hand, the Licorice was considered having ingredients like ‘glycyrrhizin’ may affect the cell membrane stability–something sounds like why herbal medicine used it as a ‘supporting’ herb to ‘balance/stabilize the prescription’. The chemical constituents of Licorice are summarized below:
- the herb ‘甘草’ (Licorice, or Radix Glycyrrhiza), which occurred most among picked prescriptions, is a common ‘supporting’ herb used among prescriptions.
| Herb | English Name | Main Chemical Constituents | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 甘草 | Licorice | 甘草甜素(glycyrrhizin), 甘草酸(glycyrrhinic acid), 甘草次酸(glycyrrhetic acid，glycyrrhetinic acid), 甘草黄甙(甘草甙,liquiritin), 甘草素(liquiritigenin), 甘草苦甙(glycyamarin), 异甘草黄甙(iso-liquiritin), 二羟基甘草次酸(dihydroxyglycyrrhetic acid, 即grabric acid), 甘草西定(licoricidin), 甘草醇(glycyrol), 5-0-甲基甘草醇(5-0-methyl glycerol), 异甘草醇(iso-glycyrol) | 甘草Wiki |