Recommendable! That biological women (or as this article irritatingly denotes "those with one X and one Y" chromosome) on average have a stronger immune system than men has been known for at least 3-4 decades if not centuries.
E.g. my mother, not a scientist (but a feminist), used to tell me as a teenager that women must have a stronger immune system or otherwise new human life developing in the womb of a soon to be mother would not survive. Makes sense!
"... As early as February last year, researchers observed that, although men and women were contracting COVID-19 at similar rates, men seemed far more likely to die from the disease. ...
Once a controversial idea, the concept of sex differences in immune function has taken hold in the research community over the last few years [only over the last few years???]. Retrospective analyses of data from the 2003 SARS and 2013–2014 MERS coronavirus outbreaks, for instance, have revealed that, among detected cases, men had a higher risk of death than women. ... And several other viruses such as hepatitis C are known to cause more serious infections in men. ... This difference is particularly evident in the cells involved in the innate immune system, which tend to respond faster in females to stimulation by viruses that binds to those cells’ receptors and, once stimulated, launch a greater production of antiviral signaling molecules. ...
On the other hand, autoimmune conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis—which in many cases are thought to arise from the overactivation of antiviral immune pathways—are far more prevalent in women, leading Klein and other researchers to theorize that scientists might be observing two sides of the same coin. ...“The downside of this robust immunity is that 80 percent of all autoimmune disease patients are women,” she says. “We [women] are so much more likely to have autoimmune diseases; we are significantly more likely to have multiple autoimmune diseases.” ..."
Once a controversial idea, the concept of sex differences in immune function has taken hold in the research community over the last few years [only over the last few years???]. Retrospective analyses of data from the 2003 SARS and 2013–2014 MERS coronavirus outbreaks, for instance, have revealed that, among detected cases, men had a higher risk of death than women. ... And several other viruses such as hepatitis C are known to cause more serious infections in men. ... This difference is particularly evident in the cells involved in the innate immune system, which tend to respond faster in females to stimulation by viruses that binds to those cells’ receptors and, once stimulated, launch a greater production of antiviral signaling molecules. ...
On the other hand, autoimmune conditions such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis—which in many cases are thought to arise from the overactivation of antiviral immune pathways—are far more prevalent in women, leading Klein and other researchers to theorize that scientists might be observing two sides of the same coin. ...“The downside of this robust immunity is that 80 percent of all autoimmune disease patients are women,” she says. “We [women] are so much more likely to have autoimmune diseases; we are significantly more likely to have multiple autoimmune diseases.” ..."
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