Man flu – a myth or cold scientific fact?

Man flu: Defined by the Urban Dictionary as a condition shared by all males wherein a common illness, usually a mild cold, is presented by the patient as life-threatening.

This is also known as “Fishing for Sympathy” or “Chronic Exaggeration”.

The definition goes on to say that if the patient is your boyfriend or husband, he will exhibit the standard symptoms (such as an overwhelming desire for compassion) while simultaneously rejecting any and all efforts you make to placate him.

But is it possible that the same flu that can strike a woman for a day can knock a man off his game for a week?

In a story that appeared in the UK’s The Telegraph earlier this year, a study by John Hopkins University suggested that female hormone oestrogen gave women some immunity against the flu – leaving men out in the cold.

According to the study oestrogen, found in higher numbers in women than men, was found to prevent the duplication of the “Influenza A” virus in the nasal cells, initiating antiviral effects against the virus.

The researchers collected nasal cells, the cell type the flu virus primarily infects.

These cultures were exposed to the flu virus, oestrogen and various compounds which act like oestrogen and are used in hormone therapy.

Both the hormone and the compounds reduced the replication of the flu virus in women’s nasal cells but not in men’s.

The lead investigator, Dr Sabra Klein, explains in the story that a virus infects and causes illness by entering a cell and making copies of itself inside the host cell.

When released from the infected cells, the virus can spread through the body and between people.

Klein explains that the amount of replication depends on its severity.

“Less replication of the virus means the infected person may experience less disease or is less likely to spread the disease to someone else,” Klein is quoted as saying.

“Therefore, as the female body can contain up to 24 times the amount of oestrogen as the male body, women appear to be considerably better equipped to defend themselves against the replication of the Influenza A virus than men.

“Other studies have shown that oestrogen has antiviral properties against HIV, Ebola and hepatitis viruses.

“But what makes our investigation unique is that we conducted our study using primary cells directly isolated from patients, allowing us to directly identify the sex-specific effect of oestrogens.”

When asked about this study, East London-based Dr Daya Appavoo said doctors were not schooled on gender differences when they learn about the flu and its effects on the body in medical school.

It was the same in practise, he said.

According to Appavoo, the severity of the flu depends on the infected individual and how compromised their immune systems are.

He said those susceptible to severe flu symptoms are smokers, the elderly, people infected with tuberculosis or with any other immune affecting illness – be it man or woman.

“The flu can affect anyone and it just differs from person to person depending on their bodies. I have never heard of gender specific type of flu and I really don’t know where people get this man flu thing from,” he said, adding that the man flu concept might have its origins in folklore.

“Both men and women generally exhibit the same symptoms when they have the flu.

“Yes, pre-existing conditions may affect how their bodies react to it or if they fall into the list I mentioned above.

“Otherwise, it’s all the same in medical terms and with the patients I treat.”

Sivene Nunwana said when he was down with flu, coping with day to day activities became mission impossible.

Nunwana said flu definitely affected men worse than females and tended to last longer.

“I can’t cope on my own when I have the flu. I become dependent on others to take care of all my needs because I can’t do anything for myself.

“I don’t get the flu very often, but when I get it I’m usually man down. I think man flu really does exist,” he said.

Malibongwe George said: “I do think the flu affects men a lot more than women. I’m basing this opinion on the women I’ve lived with in my family.

“When they get the flu, they eventually infect me but I usually find that while their lives continue as normal, I become so sick my life is on stand-still until the virus is out of my body.

“And it affects me really badly. It affects my taste buds, my vocal cords so I can’t speak, my nasal passages are usually blocked and my nose drips too. I’m never productive at work and I basically have no energy at all.

“I think there is some truth to what these scientists say about man flu.”

Nonkululeko Ngxata, however, was of a completely different opinion.

According to Ngxata, the men in her life tended to be far stronger than her when sick, able to go about their daily activities with ease.

She said there is no truth to man flu.

“Take my brother for instance. When he gets the flu he is able to go to work and go out.

“I can’t do that. When I have the flu then I’m down and I can’t even get out of bed.

“Also, when he’s sick it’s usually only one week. For me it’s always around two weeks,” she said.

In a story which appeared in the Daily Dispatch in 2013, Pharma Dynamics spokeswoman Mariska Fouche said when struck by the flu, men really do suffer more.

Fouche said at the time when infected by flu, the body temperature rises to fight off the bug.

The difference between men and women is the region of the brain which controls temperature.

Despite being the same size for both genders during childhood, when testosterone starts to act on it during puberty, it becomes larger.

“The result is that men could experience general colds and flu symptoms more intensely than women because they have more temperature receptors in that area of the brain,” she said. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za