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We know that the new coronavirus can infect anyone, regardless of their age, sex or state of health. But then that Covid-19 poses a threat to anyone who can come into close contact with the virus, throughout the pandemic, it became clear that this threat seems to beMore serious for men that it is for women. In fact, experts have noticed an early scheme on this suggested not only men were more likely to develop serious cases of coronavirus than women, but they were so far awaymore likely to die of the disease. Which remained unclear, however, that's why exactly that was the case. That is to say so far. According to a new study, the reason why women are less likely to Covid-19 than men is becauseWomen develop a stronger immune response to the virus.

For a study published in the scientific journalNatureResearchers at the University of Yale decided to determine if the immune response to Sars-Cov-2 wasdifferent in women than in men. The results, which were the first of their kind to be released, showed that, in fact, there was such an important difference.

"Our results revealed key differences in immune responses during SARS-COV-2 infection disease in male and women," wrote the authors of the study.

One of these essential differences was that patient women were found a lot moreSubstantial level of t t cell activation that male patients during infection. In terms of immunity,T cells are the second line of defense of the body against a virus. "If you look at [your immune system] metaphorically as an army with different levels of defense, the antibodies prevent the virus from entering. So it's a bit like the first line of defense",Anthony Fauci, MD, told McClatchy during a recent interview. "For viruses that escape and infect certain cells, theT cells enter and kill cells which are infected or blocked them. "

This new study found that the response of the healthy T cell has remained such as even in older women. On the contrary, the response of T cells already lower than men in Covid even worse with age. This helps to explain why doctors saw older men to become more seriously clumsy and die more than women.

"When [men] age, theylose their ability to stimulate T cells, "Akiko Iwasaki, PhD, an immunologist at the University of Yale who led the study, saidThe New York Times. "If you look at those who have really failed to make T cells, they were those who aggravated with the disease."

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The researchers admit that the study has limits, because the pool of patients examined was relatively small and the average age was over 60 years. However, conclusions are an advance to understand the difference between how men and women respond to coronavirus infection. For example, Iwasaki saidThe temperatureThat "more robust T cell responses in older women could be an important idea of ​​protection and need to be explored later."

Among other things, this information could influence the way vaccines are administered - some men couldNeed several doses of a vaccine When a single dose can be sufficient for some women, for example. And for more patterns found in people infected by coronavirus, checkThe 15 most common conditions of COVID survivors.