Author: Guohui Liu
ISBN: 9780939616459
Hardcover, 576 pages
The understanding and treatment of
infectious and other externally-contracted diseases has been a central
concern of Chinese medicine for millennia. Especially during the past
few centuries, the concepts and treatment approaches of the warm
pathogen disease school have percolated throughout Chinese medical
thought. Modern practitioners apply them in the diagnosis and treatment
of a wide variety of serious illnesses, including many which are common
in the West, such as auto-immune disorders.
Warm Pathogen Diseases: A Clinical Guide (Revised Edition)
provides an in-depth, clinically oriented approach to this important
subject. The introductory chapters tell the compelling story of how
traditional Chinese physicians, primarily from the seventeenth through
the nineteenth centuries, developed the theories and concepts of warm
pathogen disease in response to the health crises of their time, which
included a number of epidemics. The evolution of their approach to
etiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment, discussed in this
volume, demonstrates how traditional medicine has evolved to meet
contemporary needs.
The second part of the book describes the various types of warm
pathogen disease from a clinical perspective. Here the author discusses
the manifestations, pathogenesis, treatment principles, and formulas for
each type. Case histories show how theory is actually applied in the
clinic. A variety of approaches is presented, which avoids the tendency
to portray traditional Chinese medicine as an unchanging, monolithic
entity. Over time, these differences have led to much creative foment
and improvement in the efficacy of treatment. The author also addresses
aspects of dosage and preparation that are generally omitted from
standard textbooks. This part of the book will be particularly welcome
to practitioners, who will find it useful in the clinic.
Rounding out the volume is an extensive bibliography of original source
materials, supplemental case histories and materia medica, and detailed
indexes which provide access to every aspect of this subject.
Note to Revised Edition
The changes in this edition include updating both the pharmaceutical
and pinyin names of the herbs, formula names, addition of tone marks to
herb and formula pinyin names, and new translations of book titles.
There are also a few changes in terminology, most notably, warm disease is now warm pathogen disease, and warm-febrile disease is now warm-heat pathogen disease.
