Men are more vulnerable to coronavirus disease then women. This is known to most of you but are you aware of the reason behind this? Initially, we had mentioned that unavailability of two ‘X’ chromosomes in men make them more susceptible to infections like COVID-19 but there is more to it. Also Read - Coronavirus: 1,433 Casualties in United States on Monday, Death Toll Spikes to 42,604

According to a latest Mumbai-based study, coronavirus hits men harder because of their testicles. The gender disparity of the novel virus was understood after tracking 68 COVID-19 recovered patients in Mumbai. The study report was posted on MedRxix. Also Read - COVID-19 Cases Cross 17000-Mark, Centre Issues Fresh Guidelines For Non-coronavirus Health Facilities

Doctors explain that coronavirus, when invades a person’s body, attaches itself to a protein that is present in high levels in the testicles. This protein is known as angiotensin converting enzyme 2, or ACE2. Human lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract and testicles contain this protein. But ACE2 is present in large quantity in men’s reproductive part present outside the body. Also Read - Death Toll Due to Coronavirus Rises to 101 in Bangladesh, Total Cases at 2,948 Now

As immune system lies inside the body and testicles remain walled off from the body’s defense system, virus can thrive there for longer than rest of the body. This the reason why men take longer to recover from coronavirus infection and sometimes even suffer from its critical symptoms.

During the research, doctors found that a female patient takes around four days to recover from COVID-19 whereas a male patient takes two days longer than that. This means that men’s testicles act as reservoirs for the virus and that’s what leads to delayed viral clearance.

Notably, coronavirus has affected a total of 2,481,541 people worldwide until now and has claimed lives of 170,439 individuals. The good news is that 647,744 have recovered and are in good health now.