Women Stronger than Men? – Studies show Women may have better flu defenses than Men

 

Elondra Harr

Virtually everyone knows about the influenza (flu) virus. But not many people know, or even think about, which sex it seems to hit the hardest. For quite some time, many people have believed that men were actually “stronger” than women. But recently, studies have shown that women may actually be stronger than men in at least one category: Fighting the flu. International research teams have been studying what exactly might be helping women fight off this virus and what makes men more susceptible to getting the flu virus.

In the U.S, the flu season is usually at its worst during the months of January and February. But, it can actually start as early as October. After the flu virus has already infiltrated the body, the virus reacts the same way in both men and women.

During the first 24 to 48 hours, the flu virus gets into your system through the respiratory tract. That could be from breathing in someone’s cough or sneeze, or touching a surface contaminated with the flu virus and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. You typically don’t have any symptoms during this time. After the virus makes its way in, it begins to replicate.

The next five days, your body’s immune cells are sent to the places in your body where the virus is replicating. These cells send out signaling molecules to tell the body to turn on its immune response. This is where women and men’s bodies seem to differ. Your body then rounds up an immune system response to attack the virus so it can’t infect other cells.

Eventually, in the last few days the flu virus begins to leave your system. The inflammation finally decreases.

Estrogen’s Effect on the Flu Virus

Studies are now showing that the female sex hormone, Estrogen, seems to be the reason women are more likely to be able to fight off the flu virus than men. At first, recent studies showed the estrogen hampers the replication of viruses including HIV, Ebola, and hepatitis. The estrogen lessens the infection’s severity and makes the infection less likely to spread to other people. But then, Sabra L. Klein, an associate professor in the Departments of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, decided to investigate whether or not estrogen might have the same effect on the flu virus.

She and the rest of her research team decided to collect nasal cells. Why nasal cells? Because typically the first cells in the body to get infected with the flu virus are in your nose. She collected nasal cells from both men and women volunteers. The researchers exposed bunches of these nasal cells to different types of estrogens including normal levels of naturally occurring estrogen, different types of selective estrogen receptor parts called SERMs, which are synthetic estrogen-like chemicals used for hormone replacement therapy and infertility treatments, or bisphenol A, an estrogen-like chemical that is found in many plastics. Then, they exposed the nasal cells to the influenza A virus, which is a variant strain of the flu virus.

The tests showed that the female cells the received all three of different types of estrogen, showed sign of a significantly less amount of flu virus replication – Nearly 1,000 times less than other cells that hadn’t been exposed to the estrogens. More research showed that the hormones that caused this effect actually act on the estrogen receptor Beta. With the male nasal cells they tested, it seemed that the nasal cells didn’t have any receptors for the estrogen hormones therefore they didn’t have the same protective effects as the female nasal cells.

When Klein and her research team looked for the reasoning behind estrogen’s protective effect again this virus, they discovered that flu viruses binding to Beta decreases the activity of more than 30 genes used in cell metabolism, slowing the metabolic rate of these cells and preventing them from creating new viral particles.

Men and Testosterone Levels

Well now we talked about the female hormone involved in flu defenses but what about male hormones? Studies are now showing that high levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone, can actually weaken men’s immune systems.

For reasons that have not yet been found out, men are more susceptible to bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections than women are, and men’s immune systems don’t respond as strongly to vaccinations against the flu and many other diseases. A new study may explain why this seems to be the case.

A multinational team consisting of researchers from Stanford University, France, and the University of North Carolina conducted an experiment taking blood from 54 women and 37 men, all from different age groups and studied a variety of immune system proteins and cells to detect gene expression. They then gave flu vaccinations to all of these volunteers and then checked them for any signs of changes. Men, as a group, responded less to the vaccine.

Thirty-three women and 10 men actually responded to the vaccine out of the 54 women and 37 men. Most of the male non-responders had high levels of testosterone. Men with lower testosterone levels showed to have roughly an equal amount of response to the flu vaccine as the women.

When the team finished the analysis of the genes, they discovered that men with high levels of testosterone had high activation levels of a multi-gene cluster that is involved with immune system regulation called Module 52. This high activation level of Module 52 correlates with reduced antibody levels post-vaccination. But, this only has an effect on men with higher levels of testosterone. Module 52 has no effect on the amount of antibodies produced in men with lower levels and women post-vaccination.

Additional analysis showed that testosterone actually reduces level of certain regulatory proteins that usually prevent Module 52 genes from activating. In other words, higher testosterone levels result in more Module 52 gene expression. Module 52 prevents antibodies from forming in men with high testosterone levels, causing their immune systems to be weak and in turn makes them more susceptible to getting the flu even after they get vaccinated.

So scientifically speaking, women are actually stronger! Their immune systems are stronger due to estrogen and the lack of Module 52 gene expression. Men are more susceptible to getting the flu virus, but especially men with higher levels of testosterone. Even though the odds may be stacked against you, there are some things you can do to help prevent yourself from getting the flu.

Preventing The Flu

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has formulated three steps that they believe will be beneficial to the prevention of the flu.

Step 1: Get the Flu vaccination.

The CDC recommends an annual flu vaccination as the first and most important step in protection again the flu virus. Even for males, some protection is better than no protection!

Step 2: Take everyday preventative actions to stop the spread of germs.

This includes: washing your hands often with soap and water, covering your nose and mouth when you sneeze, keeping your area clean, and while sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them.

Step 3: Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.

Even if you believe they won’t work, it’s better to not risk getting worse and possibly spreading it to others by taking the medicine your doctor prescribes for the flu. The world will thank you!

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