Diplomatic immunity - Myths Vs. Truth - Brief Article

Better Nutrition, Feb, 2004

MYTH: Cold and flu viruses and other infections make us feel sick.

TRUTH: When we fall ill, it's usually our own immune reactions that make us feel lousy. When microbes set up residence in our bodies, our immune systems kick into high gear, producing antibodies and histamine to fight off the invasion. This results in discomforts such as a runny nose or fever--but these responses are designed to make the bugs feel even more uncomfortable than we do.

Take consolation in the fact that it's a temporary, reaction because for some people, it's not. Their antibodies mistakenly detect some of the body's own healthy cells as being "foreign," and the antibodies attack the healthy cells as if they represented a viral infection or a poison. Such conditions are known as autoimmune disorders, and patients often suffer throughout their lives front the discomforts caused by" their own immune responses.

People without such conditions should know that a syrup made with the popular herb echinacea reduced the number of respiratory tract infections in children--though it did not reduce the severity of infections--as reported in a study published last December in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Children in the echinacea group experienced significantly fewer additional upper respiratory tract infections than those in the placebo group during the 4-month trial.