The History of Disease

According to traditional Chinese medical theory, illness is caused by exposure to the Six Pernicious Influences (excessive wind, cold, heat, damp, dryness and fire), disturbances of the Seven Emotional States (joy, anger, anxiety, thought, grief, fear and fright), exhaustion, over-indulgence in sex and insanitary diet. Such influences lead to imbalances in yin and yang, internal and external, cold and hot, as well as weak and strong, qi (vital energy) and blood, which are eventually manifested in disorders of the five viscera and six bowels, resulting in a variety of diseases. In history men have suffered from a wide range of diseases, including typhoid fever, warm disease, beriberi, emotional disorders, leprosy, syphilitic sores, smallpox, bubonic plague, dysentery and cholera. This section traces the history of human diseases through an examination of such medical texts as Sanyin Jiyi Bingzheng Fanglun (Treatise on the Three Categories of Pathogenic Factors), Wenyilun (Treatise on Febrile Epidemics) and Xiuxiang Fanzheng (Illustrated Miao Medical Book).