
Gonthar
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50% more men than women are dying from COVID-19 and researchers think estrogen might provide some protection to this virus.
Other major coronavirus outbreaks - including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated in China in 2003, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 - also killed more men than women. One theory behind this difference is hormones. Research by Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, showed female mice were less susceptible to the SARS virus than males. But when the female hormone estrogen was blocked, or their ovaries were removed, the female mice were more likely to die.
news.trust.org
Other major coronavirus outbreaks - including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which originated in China in 2003, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012 - also killed more men than women. One theory behind this difference is hormones. Research by Stanley Perlman, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Iowa, showed female mice were less susceptible to the SARS virus than males. But when the female hormone estrogen was blocked, or their ovaries were removed, the female mice were more likely to die.
Why is coronavirus killing more men than women?
Hand washing habits or hormones? With nearly 50% more men than women dying from COVID-19, researchers are looking for answers