The first LD cases in China were reported in 1986, and now LD has been reported in more than 18 provinces. There is no record of this disease in the literature of TCM, but effective TCM treatments exist for five other known spirochetal diseases: syphilis, yaws, relapsing fever, rat-bite-fever, and leptospirosis. The treatments that have been developed for these spirochetal infections can be borrowed to treat LD. Over the last forty years, Chinese medical scientists have sought to integrate TCM with modern western medicine by comparing the pharmacological effects of the TCM remedies with the physiological actions of western medicine. This integration of TCM and western medicine created a new medicine -- modern Chinese Medicine (MCM). Based on western medicine’s understanding of the etiology and pathology of these diseases, certain MCM herbal remedies, which have anti-spirochetal and anti-inflammatory effects, have been studied to treat these diseases.

Anti-spirochetal Chinese herbs have been successfully used for treating syphilis and leptospirosis in China. Syphilis was a severe illness and affected millions in China. As a result, many effective TCM herbal therapies were developed for treating this disease. Smilax glabrae Rhizoma (SG), as a major ingredient of the herbal formulas, is used to treat syphilis and achieves a greater than 90 percent sero-convert rate back to negative. Even for the late stages of syphilis, the cure rate is above 50 percent.

Leptospirosis is transmitted through contaminated water in the rice paddies in China. In poor rural areas, barefoot farmers work in the rice fields and epidemics of this spirochete disease affected millions of farmers in China. Smilax glabrae Rhizoma has been studied as a preventive treatment for leptospirosis. Out of 2,000 people tested, the incidence rate of a pre-treated group compared with a control group was 1:5.58 -- a statistically significant result, demonstrating that taking SG can successfully prevent leptospirosis.