Amid the chaos of the pandemic, when many people were worried and unsure about what to do, Dr. Yuhong Dong was one of the medical professionals advising calm.
“Don’t panic. There are ways out.”
Dong is an infectious diseases expert with decades of research and physician experience in virological diseases, including working as a senior medical scientific expert in a large pharmaceutical firm.
Inspiration
The pandemic panic started in China. Then, it spread across the world.On Jan. 24, 2020, the Chinese regime imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, where the first COVID-19 cases emerged, along with several cities in central China’s Hubei Province, including Huanggang, where Dong’s parents reside.
From thousands of miles away in Switzerland, Dong could only watch helplessly as her parents were sealed in their apartment for weeks, trapped and fearful of catching the virus.
Then, as the pandemic worsened, governments in other countries enacted similar stringent curbs on movement, fueling fears of an invisible and deadly viral enemy.
But the increased feelings of uncertainty, isolation, and fear were a health hazard in and of themselves, Dong worried.
“People think that our thoughts are intangible, but they do, in fact, have material effects,” she said.
“Depression, anxiety, stress, anger, and fear all have widespread and well-documented physiological effects. They can affect essential aspects of our biochemistry, from hormone production to our perception of pain. Positive emotions also have an effect, though they can be mixed,” she added.
Dong, who was a chief scientific officer at a Swiss biotech company at the time, was thinking about what she could do to help.
In 2021, Dong decided to contribute her knowledge to “Health 1+1,” a weekly medical program on Chinese-language NTD, the sister media outlet of The Epoch Times, something she felt was her calling.
“I purely and sincerely want to help people calm down, understand the virus, understand the basic knowledge of human immunity, and give them practical methods to protect themselves,” Dong said.
It was a big switch from doing research in laboratories to speaking in front of a camera, she said. While it was difficult at the beginning, the thank-you messages from viewers motivated her to continue.
In 2022, Dong relocated to New York and started to contribute to the publication. To date, she has published more than 100 articles on a wide range of health topics, including viruses, mutations, drugs, immunity, natural therapies, and dietary supplements. These analyses have been viewed 5.6 million times.
‘Divine-Given’ Immunity
When Dong spoke of the human immune system, the infectious disease expert was full of gratitude. She called it a “divinely given gift,” especially during the pandemic.“A virus is like a seed. It can only grow and thrive when there is suitable soil,” she said.
“Our human immunity is a fundamental internal factor that can decide the outcome of a viral attack,” she said. In other words, one’s internal condition can determine whether he or she gets infected.
During the pandemic, governments around the world have focused on developing and distributing vaccines at an unprecedented speed to keep COVID-19 at bay.
But a well-functioning innate immune system is likely to offer more dynamic and holistic protection than these innovative medicines, Dong said.
Among the 36 participants who had the virus dripped into their noses, only half of the group developed an infection.
“This is an excellent experiment for people to start to recognize the existence and fundamental role of human immunity,“ said Dong. ”When different people are exposed to the same amount of virus in their noses, not everyone is infected.”
“Why? Because different people have different immunity,” she said. “Some people’s immunity is stronger, so they won’t get infected. Others’ immunity is weaker, so they are more susceptible to the virus.”
Dong forged her career in infectious diseases. She has accumulated nearly 20 years of clinical and research experience in understanding the battle between immunity and viruses.
After she received her doctorate from China’s elite Peking University in infectious diseases in 2002, she worked as a senior medical expert at drugmaker Novartis.
While she was dedicated to finding innovative antiviral treatments, Dong cautioned that current modern scientific technological innovation wasn’t always a universal good.
“People are inclined to pursue innovative technology,” she said. “It seems to have become a widely accepted idea that the more advanced the technology is, the greater benefit it may have.
Moral Values and Health
Keeping people’s immune systems healthy has taken on new importance since the pandemic, and Dong shared her insights on the topic.Good nutrition, regular exercise, and quality sleep are simple and easy ways to stay healthy, Dong said. But she noted that positive thoughts and moral values also contributed to well-being.
“Scientific research has demonstrated that people with traditional values or who follow moral values will have a more powerful antiviral immune system, helping them defend against viruses,” the immunology expert said.
Dong said honesty was an example. “Researchers have found that cortisol responsiveness of liars is significantly higher than that of truth-tellers, leading to a decline in antiviral ability,” she said. Cortisol is a hormone released from the adrenal glands that affects the immune system.
“I often cited this study to promote goodness and thinking of others, as such mindsets can indeed protect oneself better against the virus from a microscopic genetic level, which has more fundamental and profound effects.
“Human health is a holistic concept including physical, mental, and spiritual health. Modern science is very advanced at the physical level but still a bit naive at the mind and spiritual levels.
“We still have a long way to go.”
