Body Heat Blocks Fungal Infections

Warm-blooded mammals are naturally resistant to most fungal infections, as their body heat creates a “thermal barrier” that many fungi cannot withstand. Researchers have argued that endothermy, or internal heat production, may have evolved partly because it protected animals from deadly fungal pathogens. That heat comes at a high energy cost, but it also helps explain why fungi infect mammals far less often than plants, insects, and cold-blooded animals.

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