Trying to Explain the Theoretical Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine “Huashi Baidu Fang” in the Treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 with Western Medical Theory: A Review

Purpose: This work is aimed to explain the theoretical basis of “Huashi Baidu Fang” in the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) with western medical theory. Methods: We analyze the “Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for COVID-19 (Version 1 to Version 7)” made by China, “Clinical management of severe acute respiratory infection when novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection is suspected—Interim guidance” made by World Health Organization (WHO), “Therapeutic Guidelines: Respiratory (Version 5)”, “Therapeutic Guidelines: Gastrointestinal (Version 5)” and “Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic (Version 15)” published by Australia, and the origin of classical prescription of “Huashi Baidu Fang”: “Shanghanlun (Treatise on Febrile Diseases)”, “Jinkui Yaolue (Synopsis of Golden Chamber)” and “Wenyi Lun (The Epidemic Febrile Disease)”. We search the dictionary of traditional Chinese medicine (Version II) manually. And we search literatures from 2001 to 2020 on Wiley online library. We conduct a comparative study among the symptoms of TCM formulations in “Huashi Baidu Fang”, the pathogenesis and clinical manifestation of COVID-19 and COPD with acute gastrointestinal inflammation. And we carry out pharmacological inquiry of “Huashi Baidu Fang”. Results: The clinical manifestations of respiratory symptoms and gastrointestinal tract of syndrome of lung obstruction due to epidemic toxin and acute exacerbation of COPD are almost the same;The formulations used in “Huashi Baidu Fang” are consistent with the pharmacological activity of the drug recommended in the Therapeutic Guidelines. Conclusion: “Huashi Baidu Fang” may play a positive role in COVID-19.