In fact, we ordinary people are no strangers to the term "typhoid fever". In our image, the so-called "typhoid fever" is just catching a cold.
The most influential statement about "typhoid fever" is Treatise on Febrile Diseases by Zhang Zhongjing, a medical sage. This is a monograph devoted to typhoid fever, which has been affecting our lives for more than two thousand years. However, Zhang Zhongjing's typhoid fever is actually different from what we often say.
The earliest description of "typhoid fever" can be traced back to Huangdi Neijing and Su Wen's four-tone theology: "Winter is cold, but spring is bound to be warm". Perhaps when the ancients said this sentence, they never thought that these short eight words and one sentence actually gave birth to two schools of Chinese medicine in later generations: typhoid fever and febrile diseases.
Zhang Zhongjing's typhoid fever is a very broad term, which contains almost all physical problems caused by exogenous pathogens. Its core idea is "syndrome differentiation of six meridians", and the corresponding diagnosis and treatment principles are formulated according to the changes of six meridians. It has been regarded as a standard for thousands of years, and the prescriptions in Treatise on Febrile Diseases are also called "classic prescriptions".
The "winter injury in cold" mentioned in Neijing is different from Zhang Zhongjing's typhoid fever. The basic definition of Neijing refers to "deficiency of evil in four seasons", which can be roughly understood as "cold evil in winter and warm syndrome in spring".
And the "typhoid fever" in our general population refers to colds. If we must find a corresponding one in Treatise on Febrile Diseases, it is roughly equivalent to "Sun typhoid fever". But we will also call some wind-heat colds "typhoid fever", which is also one of the identifications;
The real spread of epidemic febrile diseases was many years later than typhoid fever, and its school of theory was not widely spread until the Qing Dynasty. What we can't ignore is that fever is a "warm" syndrome, which is manifested as a group of heat images, generally nourishing yin and clearing heat. Giving consideration to body fluid is the principle of diagnosis and treatment.
In fact, some syndromes in Treatise on Febrile Diseases can also be included in the later Treatise on Febrile Diseases, such as Yang Ming's fu-organ syndrome. Therefore, later generations also said that typhoid fever is actually the result of advancing with the times and further improving on the basis of Treatise on Febrile Diseases.
"Typhoid fever" in our general population is often confused with epidemic febrile diseases, and the common "fever and thirst" of epidemic febrile diseases is also a common symptom when we catch a cold. This is the second kind of discrimination;
Neijing also has the saying that "cold causes injury" and "warm causes disease". Many people think that typhoid fever and typhoid fever can be traced back to this point. Personally, I think that the typhoid fever in Neijing is not Zhang Zhongjing's typhoid fever, but closer to what we modern people call typhoid fever and cold. Considering the viewpoints of "nourishing is more important than curing" and "preventing diseases" in Neijing, I prefer to believe that "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" refers to catching a cold.
As for the "fever" in Neijing, I think it is not the "fever" in the treatise on febrile diseases in Qing Dynasty, but more like a series of yang-heat syndromes such as "fever". Therefore, relatively speaking, the "typhoid fever" and "febrile disease" in Neijing are closer to our modern description than those in Treatise on Febrile Diseases, which is the third kind of discrimination.
Therefore, we can use "typhoid fever in winter, illness in spring" in Neijing to guide our health. When the temperature is low in winter, we can't "typhoid". What we need to do is to avoid the cold and keep warm, such as wearing more clothes, taking less risks of snow and ice, and keeping warm when the temperature is lower. These are all necessary to avoid the invasion of external cold into the body.
In terms of diet, eat more warm foods and some warm foods, such as drinking boiled water, hot porridge, hot soup and ginger tea; You can also eat some "warm" foods such as cattle, sheep and dog meat to dispel the cold from the inside out and boost the body's yang heat. As the saying goes, "healthy qi exists inside, and evil cannot be done."
In short, typhoid fever is a common ailment in autumn and winter. In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, there are specialized works such as Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Treatise on Epidemic Febrile Diseases, but what they call "typhoid fever" or "epidemic febrile diseases" is different from what we usually understand, so we need to pay attention to it.