why are diseases always negative? Are there diseases that have positive effects on human beings?
In: Biology
Some diseases do have benefits, though they also cause damage in some way. Some examples I can think of off the top of my head:
– Sickle cell anemia provides some protection from malaria
– Some parasitic infections can reduce allergy symptoms
– Some people with severe mental disabilities are unusually gifted in music, math, etc.
There are two reasons this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. The first is that for genetic diseases, we only call them diseases when they cause problems. Anything else would just be normal variation between different people. For infectious diseases and parasites, getting a benefit usually doesn’t happen because the organism has evolved to get only what it needs, which is to hijack our bodies to reproduce or feed. But For the bacteria, fungus, insects and so on that live in or on our body and don’t cause problems, we have no reason to call their presence a disease.
Latest Answers