The Treatment of Norovirus with Moxibustion- A Case Study

Norovirus is a highly infectious disease resulting in approximately 700 million cases and 200,000 deaths annually across all ages worldwide, with a global financial burden of 60 billion dollars a year. After the acute infection, nearly one third of patients will subsequently develop chronic irritable bowel syndrome. Because norovirus strains evolve quickly and diversely, vaccination and medical treatment are still in the experimental stages. This report presents a 55 year-old norovirus-infected man with severe symptoms who was treated successfully with moxibustion. The symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting, dyspnoea and body aches disappeared after three sessions and there was no reoccurrence. This prompt improvement suggests the potential value of moxibustion for treating norovirus, an area which would be worthy of further study. The presentation includes a discussion of huoluan (霍乱), an ancient Chinese medicine disease label that is similar to norovirus in terms of symptoms and pathogenesis.