Woad helps clear an Evial Qi and heat in the blood. It helps clear acute viral infections caused by viruses such as herpes, shingles, human papillomavirus as well as influenzas. It helps clear the extracellular viruses that has not entered into the host cells by enhance the adaptive immunities involving the antibodies and complementary system.

When the body is under acute attack from viruses, macrophages is the first defense to destroy the virus as soon as they are detected. If the viral infection begins to take hold as the macrophages become infected by the virus, the body’s immune system utilizes T and B lymphocytes, a more powerful defense to fight back. B cells produce antibodies that bind to the virus and neutralize the virus so that it is no longer capable of infecting the host cell and activate other cellular defenses and complement systems to kill the viruses. T cells have many different functions which include sending out an alarm like signal when they detect viruses, killing the virus-infected cells directly, or help B cells to make more antibodies. Once the virus has been cleared from the body, a few specialized B and T cells retain an accurate memory of the destroyed virus to prevent another infection.

Acute viral infections and the immune response is viewed as an Evil Qi invasion and Heat in the blood in TCM. Woad helps enhance the Qi and boost the humoral immunity that includes antibodies, complement proteins, and certain antimicrobial peptides in the extracellular fluids to kill the virus that is circulating in the blood or in the extracellular space to prevent the virus from entering into the host cell. Woad also helps clear Heat and toxins resulting from the viral infections to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Infections from viruses can cause severe stress and reduced blood flow from the hepatic artery to the liver. This can substantially weaken the liver’s innate immune function and compromises enrichment of innate immune cells such as macrophages and natural killer T cells. Brown, LC Balancer, Qi Booster, and Bitter are also required in combination with the Woad to help clear acute infections by enhancing the liver’s innate immune function and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood. To further support the liver, Woad-R may also be required to clear the virus that is in the extracellular space of the liver.

Patients can experience symptom improvement within 3 days and 4-6 weeks of the treatment is recommended for significant improvement. If viruses have already entering into the cell and become latent, the improvement can reach plateau with Woad, woad-R with Brown, LC Balancer, Qi Booster, and Bitter. Additional formula that address persistent chronic viral infections are required depending on the location of the infections.