Why Is Sickle-Cell Much More Common In Places Such As Africa?
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Evolution by natural selection, a theory proposed by Charles Darwin that all living things undergo a physiological change in response to their environments, applies not only to human beings, but also to organisms as small as a bacterium or a virus. It suggests that one's biological makeup can either be better suited or simply inferior to another's in regards to their surroundings. In this case, natural selection would allow the advantaged organism to thrive, while the other suffers or dies out completely. Over time, the creatures with the most advantageous traits will reproduce and dominate the particular habitat's population. Similarly, a pathogen's physiological makeup could either help it thrive or render it benign in our systems. It is the human species' goal to…show more content… It aims to explain why, rather than how, our bodies are still capable of being attacked by harmful pathogens despite being able to evolve over hundreds of thousands of years. One response to this question is simply that some diseases posses the ability to protect our bodies from more harmful viruses. For example, according to Paul Ewald, studies suggest that the sickle-cell anemia gene is able to protect the human body from microorganisms that cause malaria. In this scenario, Darwinian medicine is able to answer the question 'Why is sickle-cell much more common in places such as Africa?' with the reasoning that malaria thrives in those areas. Additionally, the goal of evolution is to create an ideal environment for reproduction, despite the effects later in life. Since the life expectancy of sickle-cell is long enough to allow an affected person to reproduce, natural selection favors its gene over malaria. Darwinian medicine raises questions that forces us to create patterns between a pathogen's and our own well-being, helping medicine find a balance that all organisms involved could benefit