Women have better defences against Covid

MEN are more susceptible than women to becoming seriously ill from coronavirus due to differences in their immune systems, according to a study.

Since early in the pandemic it has been clear that men, particularly older men, are at a far higher risk of dying from the virus than women of a similar age, but scientists have not yet been able to pinpoint exactly why.

The new study, published in the journal Nature, noted that men account for about 60 per cent of deaths globally. Akiko Iwasaki, a professor at Yale University, and the study’s lead author, said: “What we found was that men and women indeed develop different types of immune responses to Covid-19. These differences may underlie heightened disease susceptibility in men.”

Researchers collected nasal, saliva and blood samples from non-infected control subjects and patients with the disease, who were treated at Yale New Haven Hospital in the United States.

They then monitored the 98 patients – whose average ages was 60 – to look at their immune responses.

Researchers found that women mounted a more robust immune response involving T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that can recognise viruses and eliminate them. This was the case even among older women. In contrast, older men had weaker T cell activity, and the older they were, the weaker the response.

Prof Iwasaki said for men “we should be enhancing their T cell responses with vaccines”.