Florida International University infectious diseases expert Dr. Aileen Marty told 850 WFTL that the coronavirus affects men and women differently. She says men are harder hit by the symptoms of COVID-19.

On average, men are not as medically sound as women. They die younger and are at more risk of life-threatening ailments, especially heart disease and many forms of cancer.

The Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus seems to follow the same pattern. In all six of the countries that, up to 20 March, had sex-specific records of deaths from Covid-19, the proportion of men was higher than women. For four of those (China, France, Italy and South Korea), male mortality rates were more than 50% greater than female rates.

This proven fact may explain why are recent study, based on an all-male sample, found Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) with or without azithromycin (AZ) did not lower the need for mechanical ventilation, according to a retrospective study of Veterans Affairs patients hospitalized with COVID-19.

The study posted on April 21 has not been peer reviewed and it also showed an increased risk of death associated with COVID-19 patients treated with HCQ alone.

The current analysis included data from all 368 male patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 and treated at Veterans Health Administration medical centers in the United States through April 11.

Interest in HCQ spiked after an open-label, nonrandomized, single-center study of COVID-19 patients in France suggested that hydroxychloroquine helped clear the virus and had a potential enhanced effect when combined with azithromycin.

Some doctors who stand behind the therapeutic benefits of HCQ say it is not meant as an “end stage” treatment. These proponents say that trials finding no benefit are flawed in that the drug is given too late.

Listen to the full interview with Dr. Aileen Marty here.