Traditional Chinese Medicine. In China, it appears that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and its techniques are being used with some success to treat tuberculosis. This is also the case in the West for customers of Asian origin. But for Western customers, TCM practitioners generally do not claim to be able to cure this disease. It is more readily used as an adjunct therapy to decrease symptoms associated with the disease and to help cope with antibiotics.

Notes on herbal medicine

Although many natural products are effective in strengthening the immune system (for more information, see our sheet Strengthening your immune system) – and that they are used by tuberculosis patients for this purpose – a person suffering from this disease can probably only resort to natural products as adjuvants to drugs. Because it is imperative to destroy the bacteria in question without delay. Unfortunately, the antimicrobial properties of plants are generally less potent than those of antibiotics.

Among the fifty products used more or less commonly by people with tuberculosis, none is supported by scientific studies. You can consult the sheets of certain products in our medicinal herbarium for which there is a traditional use in cases of tuberculosis, such as eucalyptus, elecampane, ground ivy or plantain.

The World Health Organization indicates that the licorice is part of the traditional pharmacopoeias for treating tuberculosis. Commission E recognizes the use of licorice to treat inflammations of the respiratory system, but without specifically mentioning tuberculosis.