Viruses are sexist: Some infections ‘hit men harder than women’

A new study has claimed that viruses have a gender bias as they evolve and become more aggressive to men than women.

Scientists from the Royal Holloway University in London have written a report that concludes that some infections “go easy” on women.

They say that some infections spread uniquely in women who are pregnant or have just given birth, passing it on to the child.

This in turn makes them less deadly to women than men, arguing that there is actually a benefit in them spreading this way.

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Dr Francisco Ubeda, one of the researchers, said: “Viruses may be evolving to be less dangerous to women, looking to preserve the female population, the virus wants to be passed from mother to child, either through breastfeeding, or just through giving birth.”

Researchers of the study, published in Nature Communications, now hope that they will one day be able to trick viruses into thinking they were infecting women instead of men – making them less aggressive.

Professor Jonathan Ball, a virologist from the University of Nottingham, told the BBC: “The possibility that a virus – or indeed any other infection – can fine-tune its ability to cause disease to help its transmission in either males or females is intriguing.

“Whilst the data is compelling, we have to remember that these are models nonetheless and testing them in real biological systems will be an important next step.”

Top pic: Rex/posed by models