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Jade Windscreen (Yu Ping Feng San). The first three herbs listed above make up the Jade Windscreen formula. This is probably the most famous formula from TCM literature for the prevention of respiratory infections and was handed out to Chinese healthcare workers in the SARS epidemic. Variations always included the Jade Windscreen formula but add “anti-toxin” and other “heat-clearing” herbs such as my favorite, Andrographis paniculate.^10,11

Lonicera, Scute, and Forsythia Pills (Shuang Huang Lian Wan). The other two major ingredients from the literature review are included with scute root in this classic formula. It’s a popular Chinese formula that Chinese use as a natural alternative to antibiotic for viral infection in colds and flu. This formula sold out in China online and in stores after the official Xinhua
News Agency published an article (in Chinese) that claims the herbal remedy offers hope as a COVID-19 treatment. Xinhua, the news agency, reported that the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica and the Wuhan Institute of Virology had discovered that the Shuang huang lian oral liquid—a popular combined herbal remedy commonly used to relieve some symptoms such as fever, cough, and sore throat—could be used to “inhibit” the deadly virus.^11,12

Formulas Used in the SARS Outbreak

Minor Bupleurum Formula (Xiao Chai Hu Tang) plus Honeysuckle and Forsythia (Yin
Qiao San). The first formula is extremely popular in Japan as a cold and flu preventative. It frees
the chest, supports the qi, resolves phlegm, and drains heat from the lung.¹³ Yin Qiao formula is
an anti-toxin/anti-viral formula with the two main herbs used to modify the formulas used to
prevent SARS.^14,15

Astragalus and Ligustrum formula (Huang Qi Dong Qing Pia) is inspired by Fu Zheng therapy research in China. Fu Zheng means to “support the normal or righteous qi” to protect the body from adverse influences. Appropriate for supporting immune function when challenged by any illness where there is a weakened immune system or weakened immune response.¹⁶

Chinese Herbal Formula That Combats COVID-19 Pneumonia

Lung Detox. (Qing Fei Pai Du Tang). There are a few Chinese herbal formulas that have risen to the top of the Chinese experience of treating this coronavirus and its progression into the deeper and gravely serious COVID-19 pneumonia. One of the star formulas to emerge from this massive experience is the Qing Fei Pai Du Tang formula. The formula QFPDT was applied in the battle against COVID-19, but it’s unavailable in the USA as a formula because the US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) has severe restrictions on the sale of Ma Huang and has made Xi Xin a banned herb. The formula with two substitutes (for the banned herbs) and all the rest of its other 19 ingredients can be separately sourced and blended.

According to Dr. Huang Huang at the most respected TCM school in China, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine:

The National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China together with the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine recommended Qing Fei Pai Du Tang for the treatment of COVID‐19. Qing Fei Pai Du Tang consists of a combination of formulas that have been used for thousands of years and whose use has been supported both by classical texts and by the clinical experience of later physicians.¹⁵

To make QFPDT, four classic traditional Chinese herbal formulas are combined into one. They all originated from the vast experience that Chinese medicines have had with explosive epidemics ever since they were written about in the Shang Han Lun (AD 219), which is among the oldest complete clinical textbooks in the world. TCM have been fighting epidemics and pandemics and recording them for thousands of years.

Midway through the coronavirus crises in Hebei came the recommendation that a TCM prescription of QFPADT be used for lung clearance and detoxication to treat coronavirus patients. Nearly all confirmed patients in Shanxi in the COVID-19 pandemic have taken it.

Reported February 23, 2020, the “State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine carried out clinical observation of QFPADT in the four provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Heilongjiang and Shaanxi for the treatment of confirmed patients. The results showed that the total effective rate of clinical treatment of 214 patients was more than 90%.”¹⁷

What Else?

What else can we do to make the most inhospitable environment possible for this virus? (Both in our inner and external environment) There’s the virus, and then there’s the host. So much has been said by the media and experts about the virus and little about the other factor in this equation…the host! How can we boost our immune response?

 Get good sleep and prioritize your self-care.  Sleep is critical to optimal immune function.  If you are sleep-deprived, you are not at your peak immunity.
 Eat nutrient-rich food and hydrate. The best dietary advice traditional Chinese medicine has to offer involves the cultivation of deep, nourishing hydration. This cannot be accomplished merely by drinking more water. Deep, nourishing hydration comes from eating clean foods that are cooked, “wet,” and relatively easy to digest, such as broth soups and porridges for breakfast. Vietnamese phô is a good example of a food that provides deep, nourishing hydration.

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