Women Have Stronger Immune Systems: Why That's Not Always a Good Thing

•    Experts say women’s immune systems have a stronger initial response to most illnesses.
•    However, they note the strong response can cause some long-term health issues, including the development of autoimmune diseases.
•    They say the differences in immune systems can be partly attributed to hormones and chromosomes.
•    They say this information could help in developing more specialized treatments for men and women.

A man and a woman both test positive for COVID-19.The man has more severe symptoms while the woman has milder symptoms.Yet, as time passes, the man recovers quickly while the woman experiences lingering symptoms of Long COVID.
Why? Females have a stronger immune response than males and experts say this isn’t just confined to COVID-19.
“In general, almost all infections are more severe in males compared to females and there are just a few exceptions with that and one is with whooping cough or pertussis,” Dr. Dean Blumberg, the chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of California Davis, told Healthline.
However, according to Blumberg, the stronger immune response in women can be a positive and a negative thing.
“It’s a good thing in that it helps fight off infection, so… it should lead to quicker recovery, and less severe illness,” he explained. “On the other hand, if it’s too strong, then the immune system can [experience] collateral damage, resulting in damage of tissue or organs and autoimmune diseases. So, that’s the balance that needs to be like Goldilocks. It needs to be just right in terms of fighting infection but not causing damage to the host.”