Diagnosis: Female

Medical science is learning that sex does make a difference. Men's and women's bodies each have their own health problems, react differently to drugs and often require different treatments. We bring you some of the latest thinking:

IMMUNE COMPLEXITY

A woman's immune system displays an exquisite amount of control that a man's cannot replicate. It's still not clear why, but the female body's defenses tend to mount more aggressive responses to invading marauders; then, during pregnancy, this response is dampened considerably to accommodate the fetus. Perhaps owing to this on-off intensity, women are more prone to developing lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and...

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