MaddoxJKingsley
MaddoxJKingsley t1_ive3sj0 wrote
Reply to We know about viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms evolving to better infect other organisms. Consequently, diseases change too to some extent. Are there any examples of human bodies evolving to fight against these disease causing agents? by ha_ha_ha_ha_hah
Maybe not exactly in the vein of what you mean, but resistance to fungal infection is a hypothesis for why mammals evolved at all. Fungal infections don't thrive at high temps, so warm blood makes mammals very resistant to them and so was selected for. A very early evolutionary change that increased survival rate, but not by targeting specific illnesses, necessarily; just getting too warm for them to thrive in a host.
MaddoxJKingsley t1_ivfj4l9 wrote
Reply to comment by bremidon in We know about viruses, bacteria and other microorganisms evolving to better infect other organisms. Consequently, diseases change too to some extent. Are there any examples of human bodies evolving to fight against these disease causing agents? by ha_ha_ha_ha_hah
To answer both questions: yes, and to my knowledge no, not really. Fungal infections still kill a lot of snakes and amphibians. Some animals might be resistant or even immune to infections they evolved geographically close to, but they're still very susceptible to other types/strains. Even bats are susceptible, despite being warm-blooded; white-nose syndrome is a fungal infection that gets into bats while they're hibernating and their body temp is much lower.
One reason why we don't run even hotter than we already do, and thus protect against even more things, could be because it would require us to intake a lot more energy. The hotter you are, the more you need to eat. Cold-blooded animals don't need to eat as much.