Survival Of The Sickest By Dr. Sharon Moalem

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The mindset of every living organism is to survive and reproduce. As such, it may be surprising to hear that diseases actually plays a crucial role in the survival of our predecessors. In the book Survival of the Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem discusses the role these hereditary disorders played in keeping our very ancestors alive. Three examples mentioned in the reading selection include hemochromatosis, diabetes, as well as favism. All the diseases I mentioned had a specific aspect, to which I found particularly appealing. In the case of hemochromatosis, I found it intriguing how the author used his own life to draw a connection between the two traits. Dr. Sharon Moalem lost his grandfather to hemochromatosis and later was diagnosed with the …show more content…

Originally thought to be an obscure illness, it was later identified as the most common genetic disorder for those with a Western European background. However, due to its low penetrance rate, only one out of two hundred are said to have the condition. Hemochromatosis is treated by the practice of bloodletting. It is one of the oldest treatments recorded in history, with its earliest records dating as far back as 3000 years ago in ancient Egypt. Routinely bleeding is beneficial as it not only reduces the iron in the bloodstream, but also combats issues such as heart disease and high blood …show more content…

I originally thought that diseases were not beneficial to humans at all, due to the negative persona surrounding them. However, the reading changed this, as it explained that inherited diseases were kept in our genepool, being that they served a purpose in the past, or even in the present. Each disease provides insight into how humanity has evolved, in response to the ever changing environment around us. Though these conditions would eventually lead to our downfall, they would leave us better suited towards surviving tomorrow, which ultimately, matters the

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