BEIJING - Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been used in the treatment of 24 of the 77 H7N9 cases reported across China as of Wednesday, according to the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Fight against H7N9 bird flu

Citing the case of a Beijing girl who was discharged from a hospital Wednesday afternoon, Liu Qingquan, a member of the TCM expert team for the prevention and control of human infections of H7N9, said at a press briefing that TCM was administered 15 hours after the patient took Western medicines when her temperature hit 39.8 degrees Celsius.

The patient began to sweat three hours later. After five hours, her temperature fell below 37.5 degrees Celsius.

She was also given other TCM remedies to ensure her bowel health.

Xu Zhiren, a senior official with the administration, said clinical practices have proven the outstanding effects of TCM when used at an early stage of an illness, and it also has a role to play in moderate and severe cases.

According to Xu, the administration has set up a TCM emergency response system for public incidents, with 229 clinical bases established for the prevention and control of infectious diseases at provincial and city levels.