Women at Greater Risk Than Men for Zika Infection: Study

In mice, the vagina had a delayed immune response to the virus.

Women are at greater risk for Zika infection than men, new research in mice suggests.

Scientists found the virus appears to trigger a delay in the vagina's immune response. This delay allows the virus to go undetected, putting a fetus at greater risk for infection as well, the Gladstone Institute scientists explained.

"Our research supports epidemiological studies showing that women are at a greater risk for Zika infection," senior study author Shomyseh Sanjabi, an assistant investigator at Gladstone, said in a news release from the San Francisco-based research organization.

"What's more, the dampened vaginal immune response is especially concerning, because it gives the virus more time to spread to the fetus if a woman is pregnant or becomes pregnant during the course of infection," Sanjabi added.

Zika virus is typically spread by the bite of an infected mosquito, but it can be spread through sex. In most people, the symptoms are mild. But infection during pregnancy can cause babies to be born with severe birth defects that include microcephaly, where the brain and head are abnormally small.

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