中医疫病病性寒温六分类法的构建与应用OA

In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM),the term'epidemic disease'specifically refers to diseases that are highly contagious,epidemic,and cause severe harm,which is equivalent to the concept of infectious diseases in modern medicine.Determining the nature of an epidemic disease promptly is of great significance in its diagnosis and treatment.However,the specific classification of the nature of TCM epidemic diseases remains controversial to date.This paper first introduces three classification methods for the nature of epidemic diseases:the five epidemics classification,the four seasons-five zang organs-yin yang toxin classification,and the three-category classification of cold,warm,and mixed epidemics.It points out that the nature of epidemic diseases possesses both specificity and long-term stability.Subsequently,integrating these three mainstream classification methods,this paper proposes a six-category classification of cold and warm epidemics,where in cold epidemics are subdivided into narrow-sense cold epidemics,cold-dampness epidemics,and cool-dryness epidemics;and warm epidemics are subdivided into narrow-sense warm epidemics,dampness-heat epidemics,and warm-dryness epidemics.This six-category classification is then tentatively applied to define the nature of six common infectious diseases.It is proposed that defining the nature of an epidemic disease should not rigidly adhere to a fixed disease corresponding to a fixed nature.Instead,the nature should be defined based on the differences in various influencing factors such as season,geographical region,and the type of epidemic disease.This approach may better align with objective reality and could play a significant role in the scientific understanding and timely response to emerging and sudden infectious diseases.