[Evolution of TCM's knowledge on rabies].

The etiology of rabies is caused by the bite of a mad dog infected by non-seasonal pathogen with intoxicated viscerae, and its pathogenesis being heat and blood stasis inside the body. The evolution of the knowledge of rabies experienced a process of from the recognition of biting of a mad dog in the Sui-Tang Dynasties to the systematic manifestations of the central nervous system in the Ming-Qing Dynasties. The recognition in its diagnosis, therapeutic effects, and prognosis is in line with the diagnostic knowledge carried in modern Textbook of Infectious Diseases. It pays attention to the cleaning of the trauma, experiencing a process from sucking by the mouth, washing with water to washing with raw glycyrrhiza and urine, while the development of therapy evolved from a single-recipe-special-drug level to the patent prescription level.