FOR the millions of us who have had the AstraZeneca Covid jab, there was very good news with the suggestion that it provides longer-term protection than the other vaccines. The key is that it triggers more durable T-cell immunity, which is longer-lasting.
Or that's the suggestion. The thing is, there is still much to unravel when it comes to our immune systems - and that includes the role of your mind.
I speak from personal experience, as someone who suffered with recurrent painful mouth ulcers for decades. As anyone who has had these will know, there's no effective treatment.
The condition, known as recurrent aphthous stomatitis, is undoubtedly genetic in origin, and is almost certainly to do with a problem with immunity in the mouth.
I had the condition from the age of three, as did my sister, and there was never a time when I went more than a week or two without suffering a crop of mouth ulcers.
Then, in my late 30s, a friend showed me some film footage he had recorded with a Swiss scientist, an alternative therapist who lived in the Mojave desert in the United States.
My friend had spoken to several dozen people who had been cured of various intractable conditions, including stomach ulcers, hepatitis C and diverticulitis, by taking a 'panacea' - a potion developed by the scientist using certain plants he had gathered in the desert.
As part of a documentary, I was filmed explaining - with some scepticism - that these testimonials were merely anecdotes. The 'miracle cure' required a proper scientific trial if the scientist wished to show that it was effective.
At the end of the recording my friend asked if, despite my scepticism, I had taken the panacea. I admitted that I had, and in the months following I had not suffered from any more aphthous ulcers.
The film Getting To Know The Miracle Man won a science documentary award, and I've been free of the ulcers ever since. Here is an example of the placebo effect and the power of the mind - despite my hard-wired scepticism - to influence our immunology.
© Daily Mail
