Additional

In addition to the six exogenous pathogenic factors occurring in nature, there also exist some extremely infectious noxious epidemic factors. Although the characteristics of these are similar to those of mild - heat heat, they are severely toxic and can result in the sudden onset of severe diseases such as plague. The medical literature of Traditional Chinese medicine describes epidemics of many diseases recognized by modern medicine, such as smallpox, cholera, diphtheria and toxic dysentery.

In addition to diseases caused by the six exogenous pathogenic factors, there are many diseases caused by functional disturbances of the zang - fu organs, which nevertheless share similar clinical manifestations. These pathological changes are therefore referred to as endogenous wind, cold. damp, dryness and fire ( heat ) in order to avoid ambiguity. Descriptions of these pathogenic factors are ignored here and are covered in the chapter on the differentiation of syndromes of the zang - fu organs.