The *Zhubing Yuanhou Lun* (Treatise on the Pathogenesis and Manifestations of All Diseases) states: The reason why infants suffer from *ba* disease is that during pregnancy, evil spirits guide the fetus in the womb, acting out of jealousy to suppress or harm other children, causing them to fall ill. Not all pregnant women can produce *ba*; it occurs only occasionally. This illness tends to affect those of low status or young age. Its symptoms include alternating chills and fever, hair standing on end, and a displeased demeanor; these constitute its clinical presentation. "Ba" is pronounced as "zhi".

The *Qianjin Fang* (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold) records: Moxibustion at the Fuyi acupoint (located 1.5 cun lateral to the lower border of the spinous process of the seventh thoracic vertebra), cooked thoroughly, chewed finely, and fed to the patient.

Piant KT [sliced, one sheng] Winter Melon [sliced, one sheng]
Boil in five or six sheng of water for six or seven boils, remove the dregs, and use slightly to bathe the infant. (From *Xinlu Fang*.)

Su Jing's *Bencao Zhu* (Commentary on Materia Medica) states: The eye of a white horse can treat infant *ba* disease; the mother should wear it.

The *Zhubing Yuanhou Lun* states: Infants suffering from *kewu* disease have weak spirit and qi. When suddenly exposed to unusual objects or touched by people they have never seen, their spirit clashes with external spiritual forces, leading to illness, known as *kewu*. It is also called *zhongke* or *zhongren*. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea of green, yellow, or white undigested food and water, physical laxity, abdominal pain accompanied by body retroflexion and twisting struggles, facial color changes among five hues, resembling epilepsy but without upward deviation of the eyes, ear shaking, and a wiry, forceful, rapid pulse. If treatment is delayed, prolonged illness becomes difficult to cure. If the wet nurse has consumed excessive alcohol to intoxication or engaged in sexual activity causing panting before breastfeeding, the condition is most severe and can be fatal to the infant.

The *Qianjin Fang* states: Young children suffer from *kewu* disease because external breath clashes with them, also known as *zhongren*, which is *kewu*. Even if the source is family members or people from other households, or even the parents of the wet nurse returning from outside, their clothes may carry spiritual odors, coarse and strange airs, or the smell of cattle and horses, all of which cause clash.

It further states: In any infant clothing, cloth, silk, or cotton padding must not contain human hair; the same applies to shoes. White clothes with green belts, or blue clothes with white belts, will cause infants to suffer from *kewu*.

It also states: Any abnormal person or object coming from outside can startle the infant. To prevent this, when people or foreign objects arrive from outside, one should hold the child away to avoid letting the infant see them. If avoidance is not possible, burning cow dung ash to produce constant smoke and placing it in front of the door is beneficial. Treatment methods:

Three sheng of horse manure, burned until no smoke remains, boiled in three sheng of wine for three boils, dregs removed, used to bathe the infant.

Another prescription: Burn three inches of the mother's sash and hair, mix, and administer the juice orally.

The *Jiyao Fang* (Extremely Important Prescriptions): Earthworm excrement and loess from the stove hearth, mixed in equal parts into powder, applied to the infant's head and palms with water.

Another prescription: Take the nose of a bronze mirror, burn until red hot, place in a small amount of wine, and give to the infant to drink. If the infant can consume the mixture, recovery ensues. Take a ball of hot horse manure, extract the juice, and feed to the infant; recovery occurs after defecation.

The *Duanju Fang*: Swallow musk the size of a soybean, and immediate recovery follows.

Another prescription: Take ten white fish found in clothes, grind into powder, apply to the nipple so the infant suckles it; recovery occurs upon swallowing.

The *Ge Shi Fang*: Have the infant lie supine, place a small basin on the chest, cover with a steamer lid over the basin; when the fire diminishes, the illness resolves.

The *Chan Jing* (Obstetrics Classic) states: Grind bovine calculus (Niuhuang) to the size of a soybean and administer orally for immediate effect.