By now many have probably thrown away their lettuce and avoided eating salads as there has been E. Coli outbreak in the United States.

As of Friday, April 21, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its warning from just chopped lettuce to all of forms of lettuce such as, whole romaine and mixed romaine. Restaurants have also been warned to not serve the vegetable to any of their customers or employees. 

E.Coli, can of course, affect anyone, but it looks like women should be the ones that worry the most, as 70 percent of those suffering from the infection are women. 

The information should come as no surprise as females were revealed to be 67 percent of those that were infected in 2017. In 2016, the CDC reported high results for women again as they ranked as 73 percent who became sick from the outbreak. 

Why Are Women The Victims? 

According to Dr. Bruce Lee, an associate professor of International Health at Johns Hopkins University, there are three possible reasons why women have been affected by the outbreak more than men. 

Diet

One of the contributing factors of why women are dealing with E.Coli more than men is the fact that their diets tend to include more vegetables. Society encourages women to be dainty eaters, which means they are more likely to turn to leafy greens and fruits instead of meat. 

Differences In Their Gastrointestinal Tracts

Women are reportedly reacting to the bacterium because of their gastrointestinal tracts. Gastrointestinal tract is an organ system within humans which takes in food, digests it to extract, and absorbs energy and nutrients and expels the remaining waste as feces.  Well, as reported by Lee, there is no sufficient evidence to support this belief, however, different results between sexes and races are driven by social and behaviorial differences.

The Information They Are Giving Doctors

Another reason why women are suffering more than men is the way that they report their symptoms to their doctor. Lee further revealed that men are less likely to report any symptoms of any type of disease, but the high result for women could be the information they are giving to medical practitioners. 

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