Darwinian medicine

Medical treatment that takes into consideration the evolutionary history of humans and their ailments. An evolutionary explanation is sought for every disease on the grounds that each adaptation may have negative as well as positive consequences. For example, back pain is said to result from the stresses of walking upright. Similarly, symptoms are the body's adaptation to fight disease.

In conventional medicine most symptoms are routinely treated as harmful, but some symptoms, such as coughing and fever do have beneficial effects as part of the body's evolutionary adaptation to combat disease. In Darwinian medicine not all symptoms are regarded as helpful, but the doctor's approach to treatment is aided by an understanding of the evolutionary nature of the host-parasite contest.