Here is why men recover faster from the flu than women

A new study may have found out why men recover faster from flu than women.

It says they produce more of a key lung-healing protein.

Scientists infected live mice and human cells with influenza virus, and found that both the male mice and male human cells produced more amphiregulin, a growth factor protein important in wound healing. The male mice recovered more quickly, compared to female mice, whereas male mice lacking amphiregulin had recovery times close to those of females.

Senior researcher Sabra Klein, associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health:

The novel finding here is that females also have slower tissue-repair during recovery due to relatively low production of amphiregulin

So the idea is to produce medicines with more amphiregulin particularly for women.

It is not yet clear what drives the greater rise in amphiregulin production in males during flu infection. it was suggested that it was testosterone but it appears not to be the case.

The new study appears online in the journal Biology of Sex Differences. The National Institutes of Health paid for the research.

With information from John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Healh