Men and woman are as different as Mars and Venus, chocolate and steak and now, possibly, gastrointestinal illness and malaria. New research suggests world travel, which can make anyone sick, affects men and women differently by the diseases they catch.
In a study of nearly 59,000 international travelers by the University of Zurich, researchers found women were more likely to become ill with gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, colds, urinary tract infections and side affects to common travel medications, such as malaria prevention.
Men were found to have increased risk of mountain sickness, frostbite, sexually transmitted diseases and fever, including those from infections transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or other such hosts, such as malaria, dengue and rickettsia.
Travelers and travel-medicine specialists may be able to use the study findings to better prepare for international trips, researcher Dr. Patricia Schlagenhauf said, according to Reuters.
It would be beneficial for female travelers, for example, to bring anti-diarrheal medications and be extra careful about washing their hands and observing the water and food they are consuming to ensure it isn’t contaminated. Travelers’ Diarrhea is the most common illness among voyagers.
Men, for example, are advised to apply insect repellent more frequently, although both genders need to be aware of mosquito-borne illnesses. Men could be a “more attractive host” to mosquitoes because of their sweat, which could also be washing off repellent, according to the researchers.
More than 3 percent of men in the study were treated for mosquito-transmitted malaria and dengue, compared to 1.5 percent and 1.7 percent of women, respectively.
Women may either be more susceptible to gastrointestinal ills, or more likely than men to seek treatment, Schlagenhauf's team told Reuters. Of 29,643 women, one-quarter were treated for acute diarrhea, compared with 22 percent of men.
Men were 7 percent more likely to have a fever-inducing illness and were one-third more likely than women to visit a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases, possibly because researchers said past research shows men are more apt to have sex with someone they meet overseas.
The study, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, examined 58,908 patients who visited 44 travel-medicine clinics around the world between 1997 and 2007.
Source:
Reuters Life! “Women and men travelers tend to get different illnesses,” http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61O08S20100225?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+reuters/healthNews+(News+/+US+/+Health+News); 25 Feb. 2010.
