Lanzhou (CNS) -- Liu Baolu, an elder traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner and member of the Gansu Traditional Chinese Medicine Expert Team on AIDS Treatment, has helped more than 70 AIDS patients with TCM since his first attempts in 2006. "It is a remarkable achievement that Liu Baolu successfully applied TCM to AIDS treatment," Liu Weizhong, director of the Gansu Provincial Department of Health told CNS, September 25.
CD4, a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, is the main reference for detecting the AIDS virus and the effects of certain AIDS treatments. If an AIDS victim's immune system is seriously damaged, the quantity of CD4 drops dramatically.
According to TCM theories, a change in CD4 is attributed to a lack of internal healthy gases, which leads to low immunity and, thus, the potential for many ailments.
The "cocktail" therapy, created by Chinese American scientist David Ho, is so far widely-recognized as the main therapy in treating AIDS. The cocktail therapy does not cure AIDS though and there has been only one case of AIDS recovering through a bone marrow transplant.
Though TCM methods cannot entirely kill the virus, patients will be able manage their daily life and extend life expectancy by taking medicines, according to Liu.
Western medicines are expensive and are very likely to cause side effects on the liver and skin, said Liu. Once the total number of CD4 decreases, it is hard to regain more.
In comparison, TCMs are more affordable and milder. Despite the fact that TCM's effects might be influenced by factors such as the environment, psychology, and climate changes, the decline of CD4's sum is able to be reversed with TCM.
"The prescription has not been released yet. Routine medicines such as ginseng and Astragalus mongholicus are included. I hope one day it won't be a dream any more to kill the HIV virus with TCM methods," said Liu Baolu.
