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A Swedish study of whiplash injury patients seems to demonstrate the power of positive thinking.

The patients who said they expected to get better were the ones most likely to make a full recovery within six months of their injury, according to the findings published in the online journal PLoS Medicine.

Whiplash, often caused by the sudden jerking of the neck in a car crash, can trigger neck, back and shoulder pain as well as blurred vision, headaches and even depression. What might initially seem like mild symptoms can sometimes deteriorate into a chronic condition.

For the study, the researchers recruited 1,000 Swedes who had recently suffered whiplash. The volunteers were asked to rate their chances of making a complete recovery. Six months later, they were given questionnaires to determine how much the lingering pain from the accident limited their daily activities, ranging from doing household chores to engaging in social activities.

"The lower their expectations [of getting better], the higher the disability," said the lead author of the study, Lena Holm at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

She noted 95 per cent of the volunteers had returned to work. That means it's unlikely patients were making false claims about continued pain in order to stay on long-term disability insurance.

So, how can a person's expectations influence the likelihood of recovery?

In part, Dr. Holm said, it might involve the placebo effect: If patients truly believe a treatment will work, some of them will report an improvement in their condition even if given a dummy pill.

On the other hand, chances of recovery can be impeded by "fear-avoidance behaviour," she added. Patients may curb their activities because it initially hurts to move, an approach that may be counterproductive in the long run. "If you don't remain mobile ... you have less possibility of recovery and might actually get more pain."

Dr. Holm believes people could benefit from more patient education and positive reinforcement at the time of their injury. "People are really afraid of whiplash," she noted. They need to be informed by health professionals that most people can expect to recover within a few months.

TB's Trojan Horse

Canadian researchers say they have discovered how tuberculosis bacteria hide and multiply in the body. The finding, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, could lead to new treatments for the potentially deadly disease, which claims two million lives worldwide annually.

The body usually tries to combat bacteria with a variety of disease-fighting immune cells, including macrophages. Normally, macrophages swallow bacteria and then release powerful digestive enzymes that destroy the invaders.

However, researchers at the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the University of British Columbia have found that TB bacteria produce a protective protein that neutralizes the macrophages' ability to kill them. That means TB can remain safely hidden inside the macrophages.

"TB acts as a Trojan Horse," researcher Horacio Bach said in a statement released with the study. "TB multiplies inside the macrophage and, when released, attacks the human body."

The researchers also report they're already working on new ways to combat TB. "We have been able to engineer a specific antibody that blocks this newly discovered TB protein," said lead researcher Yossi Av-Gay.

TB is generally treated with antibiotics, but the hardy bacteria are growing increasingly resistant to many drugs. So, new treatment options are needed. Dr. Av-Gay said it could take a decade before their work translates into a possible weapon against TB, but he hopes it might be sooner.