Evolutionary Medicine

Modern medicine does need an evolutionary perspective, because one must know how the lock and key metaphor works. As diseases develop, the body must find a way to protect itself so it evolves a defense system which the disease or virus ultimately will find a key for. It is this battle between evolutionary developments of locks and keys that it is vital to know about evolution in treating a patient. If a doctor hands out antibiotics like it is candy, the bacteria are likely to find the key to surviving even in the presence of that antibiotic. Then, all the antibiotics become pointless. Just like a mechanic needs to understand each individual part, how a car was made, and technological advances to fix a car, so a doctor does the body and the things that can go wrong with it. If a mechanic does not understand the new technology, he may install old outdated things that no longer work with the rest of the newer components, just like an older antibiotic will not work on a bacteria that already has a resistance to it.