The newest reports are that over 300 thousand people have been infected with COVID-19 and more than 13 thousand have died from it. Spreading rapidly, corona has become a serious threat to humanity. Predictions are that 2/3 of the global population will be infected, but in most cases, it’s going to be a just a mild infection.
WHO (World Health Organization) has conducted an analysis in China and the results put people over the age of 65 at the highest risk, especially those with a chronic illness.
Coronavirus is infecting men, women and children equally, the difference is in how those groups are able to fight off the virus.
WHO claims that men get sick from COVID-19 significantly more often than women. According to the statistics from China, in the month of January the mortality rate among men was 2,8%, while it was 1,7% among women. The statistics were similar for both SARS and the flu.
The reason for this is that women have stronger immunity. The hormone estrogen plays a big part, as it helps increase the function of an immune system and works hard to fight off infections. On the other hand, testosterone in men blocks the immune system.
Genetics have a huge role, too. Genes relevant to the immune system and responsible for revealing the cause of diseases are coded on the X-chromosome. Women have two of them, while men have only one.
Another factor is the difference in lifestyles, as men tend to have more unhealthy habits than women. Men smoke more than women and the lungs of smokers are more prone to viruses.
It was first believed that children cannot get infected with coronavirus. However, this was disproven. Children can get the virus and spread it to other people, having mild to no symptoms themselves. There is no scientific explanation for this yet.
