Testosterone May Be Key to Disease Spread

A study in mice shows high levels of testosterone — the male sex hormone — may be a key factor in spreading disease, U.S. researchers said.

Daniel Grear, a Pennsylvania state doctoral student in ecology; Sarah E. Perkins, postdoctoral fellow and Peter J. Hudson, the Verne M. Willaman chair in biology said the findings might help explain why males in a population are often more likely to get infected, and transmit disease.

Previous research has linked testosterone to immune system suppression and studies have shown males, compared to females, experience more bouts of disease and account for a larger share of disease transmission.

The researchers randomly treated 24 male mice trapped at five sites with testosterone implants, 25 other male mice received sham implants and mice at three separate sites received neither treatment. The trapping sites were positioned to represent a large grid and mice were electronically tagged so researchers could track the animals.

The researchers found that all mice mixed more when testosterone treated mice were present.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America in Milwaukee.