I think it is Nature’s way of maintaining ecobalnce to have one infected , increase body immunity system and prepare to meet the challenge of other growing organisms.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers previously showed that every one degree Celsius rise in body temperature wards off about 6 percent more fungal species. So tens of thousands of fungi can infect reptiles and amphibians, but we can only be invaded by a few hundred fungi.
In the new work, the researchers created a mathematical model that weighed the fungal protection benefits versus the metabolic cost of high body temperature. And the optimal temperature was 98.1, quite close to what evolution figured out. The research was published in the open-access journal mBio. [Aviv Bergman and Arturo Casadevall, “Mammalian Endothermy Optimally Restricts Fungi and Metabolic Costs“]
Too low a temperature and we’re far more susceptible to fungal infections. Too high a temperature and we’d spend all our time taking in fuel to burn. So 98.6, like that middle bowl of porridge, is just right.
—Steve Mirsky