New York: A study claimed that males are more vulnerable to COVID-19 when compared to women. The reason behind this increased risk for males is the presence of testicles that may not only harbor coronavirus but also give sanctuary from the immune system.
What happens when coronavirus enters body
To understand the reason behind the increased risk for males, it is essential to analyze what happens when coronavirus enters the body.
Once coronavirus enters the body, it binds with cells expressing the ACE2 protein. These cells are found in the lungs, heart, intestine, testes in males and ovarian tissues in females.
However, such cells are found in larger quantities in testes making males more vulnerable to coronavirus.
Mortality rates
In the UK, the mortality rate in men due to COVID-19 is 1728.2 per 100,000 whereas, in women, it is 840.9 per 100,000.
In the study which was carried out by researchers in New York and Mumbai, men took 50% more time to get rid of infection when compared to women. The study was carried out by Dr Aditi Shastri, an oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx with her mother Jayanthi Shastri, a microbiologist at the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai.
