2. Combining the Pathogen Perspective with the Body’s Response Perspective

2. Combining the Pathogen Perspective with the Body’s Response Perspective

Western medicine places great emphasis on the pathogenicity of pathogens and has achieved remarkable success in this area. Research on pathogenic microorganisms has led to the development of various antibiotics, which have proven highly effective against most infectious diseases. However, when it comes to sequelae resulting from infection—such as deficiency of vital energy, disharmony of qi and blood (including dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system, immune system, and metabolic system)—the purely pathogenic perspective alone cannot deliver satisfactory results. TCM, on the other hand, focuses on the body’s responsiveness. The “Inner Canon” states: “When vital energy is preserved within, evil cannot invade,” and “Wherever evil gathers, the qi must be deficient,” laying the foundation for TCM’s understanding of the body’s response. Throughout history, TCM has employed methods such as “tonifying vital energy and consolidating the root” and “activating blood circulation and removing stasis” to regulate the autonomic nervous system, metabolism, and immune system. In light of this, antibiotic therapy is particularly effective during the acute phase of infectious diseases, but once the condition transitions to chronic, TCM-based regulation becomes necessary. Let us take osteomyelitis as an example to illustrate this point. During the acute phase of osteomyelitis, the pathogenic bacteria (along with their toxins) directly affect the patient, resulting in local symptoms dominated by infection. In such cases, antibiotic treatment combined with TCM heat-clearing and detoxifying, blood-activating, and stasis-removing therapies is appropriate.

However, once osteomyelitis enters the chronic phase, systemic infection symptoms subside, leaving localized bone destruction, compensatory hyperostosis of the cortical bone, non-healing sinus tracts, and purulent discharge as the main clinical manifestations. At this stage, there is no need to administer Western antibiotics; instead, simply applying TCM tonifying and consolidating, phlegm-resolving and mass-dispersing, and blood-activating and stasis-removing therapies—with appropriate adjustments—can yield excellent therapeutic results. Similarly, for acute pancreatitis, antibiotics combined with TCM bowel-clearing and qi-regulating treatments are effective; whereas for chronic pancreatitis, solely relying on TCM liver-soothing and spleen-strengthening, along with bowel-clearing and qi-regulating therapies, can achieve satisfactory outcomes. Likewise, acute bronchitis responds well to antibiotics, while chronic bronchitis benefits from TCM-based regulation, with equally satisfactory results. In clinical practice, there are also some diseases whose pathogens have not yet been identified by modern medicine, or although the pathogens have been identified, no effective drugs targeting them have been developed. In such cases, TCM-based treatments remain the most effective option—for example, viral hepatitis, nephritis, aplastic anemia, hemolytic anemia, and connective tissue diseases. By regulating the body’s response, TCM provides feedback on the true nature of these diseases’ underlying causes, thereby achieving therapeutic effects to a certain extent.

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Part One: Academic Thought

Published by Heji Book Publishing House