In their recent paper on the resurgence in mumps virus infections in Ireland (2), Carr et al. observed a strong (P < 1CT~(32)) bias for acute mumps virus infection in males compared to females that was independent of vaccination status. The authors extrapolated to natural infections the gender differences in immune function observed in in vitro studies of human lymphoid cells and gender-based differences in humoral immunity with several vaccines, including those for influenza, hepatitis A, and measles virus. In another work on predicting sequelae and death after bacterial meningitis in childhood that was recently published (6), de Jonge et al. suggested that male gender is an important prognostic factor, a finding for which they do not have an explanation.
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