Young women less likely to get common cold - CathNews NZ - Pacific

Young women less likely to get common cold

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

While young men think they’re invincible, according to an Australian study Man Flu is real and young men are more susceptible to the common cold than young women.

Researchers in the University of Queensland’s School of Medicine at Princess Alexandra Hospital have found that age and sex plays a significant role in how the immune system reacts to rhinoviruses – the viruses that usually cause the common cold, and that young women have a much stronger immune response to rhinoviruses than young men.

Female sex hormones were responsible for young women being able to fight cold viruses better than their male counterparts.

Lead researcher Professor John Upham says differences disappear after menopause, meaning immunity to the common cold is likely to be regulated by sex hormones.

Professor Upham said these findings were crucially important for finding new ways of combatting rhinoviruses.

“While these viruses are just a nuisance in healthy people, they can make people with asthma or other chronic lung diseases very unwell.”

“We definitely haven’t been able to find a cure for man-flu,” he said.

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News category: World.

Tags: Women, Young women

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