Man Flu Might Be Real
It looks like Man Flu might actually be a thing after all;
To most, “man flu” is thought of as a pejorative, a way of teasing men who are complaining perhaps a little too much about the cold or influenza virus they’ve picked up. However, a new piece of research suggests that man flu may be an actual condition that men suffer from. As revealed in a study in the American Journal of Physiology – Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology, it has everything to do with estrogen – specifically, men’s lack of it.
For this particular study, the researchers wished to know if estrogen had any effect on the replication of the virus. This sex hormone is mostly responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system, although it also plays a role in the development of young male adults. Women do have more estrogen than men, however, and the researchers suspected this may have something to do with why “man flu” is a term without a female equivalent.
The researchers first exposed the uninfected nasal cells to estrogen and a class of drugs called selective estrogen receptor modulators, or SERMs. Cell receptors that are activated by estrogen can also be stimulated by SERMs, which produce estrogen-like effects. The treated nasal cells were then put into contact with the influenza virus.
They found that any female cells treated with estrogen or SERMs from 72 to 24 hours prior to infection showed a far greater resistance to infection, with viral loads within the nasal cell cultures far lower than male cells also treated with estrogen. This strongly suggests that estrogen has female-specific antiviral qualities, and that even after treatment, male nasal cells are no more resistant to infection.
The scientists think the metabolic rate of infected cells is being slowed down by estrogen, limiting the ability of the virus to replicate itself.
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