Research On History Of Epidemic Disease In Hunan

Research on history of epidemic diseases in Hunan is a regional disease history investigation covering the prevalence of epidemic diseases, medical development and social humanities.By studying the prevalence of epidemic diseases from ancient local literature of Hunan, we analyzed its spatial and temporal distribution,epidemic disease species and some influencing factors. We found out that epidemic diseases occurred most frequently in two periods,which were from late Ming Dynasty to early Qing Dynasty and after Jiaqing and Daoguang years of Qing Dynasty. Jingzhou, Chenzhou and Yongzhou were the predominate traditional high-occurrence epidemic areas in the epidemic history before Qing dynasty. After mid-Qing Dynasty,influenced by national epdemic diseases in successive years, serious epidemics also outbroke in Hunan including four province-wide epidemics,and other areas in proper sequence according to the order of severity were the central,the southern and the west of Hunan. The major types of epdemic diseases were cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, malaria, dysentery, and so on. From the angle of social histroy of diseases,we observed and studied the reactions of three stratums:officals,doctors and people.It was revealed that the overall officials were negative to epidemics,and only a few made limited individual efforts.Folk doctors were the major force for epidemic treatment, but they varied greatly and were short-staffed. As times went by, people gradually changed from fearing and running away from epidemic to a certain degree of rational cognition. In whole,Folk self-help was the the main force for epidemics rescue and therapy, although the actual result was not obvious.Serious epidemic disasters stimulated physicians to do constant practices and make progress. In the basis of classic epidemic diseases doctrine On Pestilence written by Wu Youke and Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Febrile Diseases,combined with abundant clinical experiences,they emphasized theories of coldness and heat,payed attentions to protect stomach qi,and wrote a lot of excellent books on epidemics. They made outstanding contributions on the theory of epidemic diseases, publishing and distribution of medical books, the promotion of vaccination, the innovation of diphtheria in Chinese medical theory as well as treatment, Lastly,from the angle of culture history of diseases,we did textual research on the orange well story and revealed the real and rational part o f the story. The orange well allusion had profound influence on Chinese medicine culture. The spirit of self-cultivation and helping others is the essence of Hunan TCM culture. By studying the folk customs about epidemic disease in Hunan local chorography of Qing Dynasty,we revealed the social epidemic prevention function of traditional customs on driving away epidemics,which preserved the group value of the area in public and atabilized Hunan area which was under the the long-term epidemic attack in historical inviroment.