Mögliche Therapiestrategien bei Covid-19-Erkrankungen mit chinesischen Arzneimitteln

In view of the severe corona virus pandemic and the not yet foreseeable availability of causal therapy approaches (vaccination, antiviral drugs), it is of great importance to know what Chinese medicine can contribute to the treatment of Covid 19. According to a WHO report published in 2004, concerning the 2003 SARS epidemic caused by SARS-CoV-1, Chinese medicine was used in China both preventively and therapeutically in addition to Western medicine. In both these preventive and curative roles, treatment proved to be significantly effective. During the current outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, about 60,000 Covid 19 patients were treated with Chinese medicine in the Wuhan region alone by the end of February 2020. The first part of this paper provides a summarizing overview of a number of sources with treatment recommendations and experiences of different clinics, working groups and official bodies. In the second part - based on currently known information — the author voices his own considerations on pathophysiology and important therapeutic principles. Finally, he presents preliminary treatment proposals using Chinese medicinal remedies for what appear to be the central pattern of the disorder - a blockage of pulmonary qi and the transformation of fluids in the context of an accumulation of dampness /humor with toxicity and, in severe cases, development into pneumonia.