‘The Last of Us’ in real life? Doctors discuss likelihood of fungal pandemic in new article

Related video: How does the CDC track disease?

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — As if climate change and rent weren’t bad enough, could zombies be on the horizon?

With the popularity of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” a lot of attention was put on the cordyceps fungus, the fungus that is central to the show’s pandemic plot.

In the real world, the Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus infects insects like ants and hijacks their bodies, draining nutrients from the infected victim to feed itself and forcing it to position itself where it can release spores to find more hosts.

Because of this method of infection, cordyceps is often referred to as the “zombie-ant” fungus, according to NPR.

In “The Last of Us” franchise, cordyceps has made the jump to humans and controls them in the same way — infecting the non-infected in the zombie-like manner of rushing and biting, although the game’s creator Neil Druckmann does not refer to them as zombies.

A rise in fungal infections

So, could a fungal pandemic actually happen? According to an article published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, likely not.

The article states that while the O. unilateralis cordyceps species infects and controls insects, it cannot infect vertebrate animals, and because fungi are slow to mutate, it would likely take tens of thousands of years for it to even have the chance to species jump to a more complex organism.

Scientists say for humans, the bigger mind-altering threats are rabies, the brain-eating amoeba Naegleria fowleri, and the fungi Cryptococcus neoformans, which can cause problems with your nervous symptoms. Bornavirus and toxoplasmosis have also been looked at as possible factors in mental disorders, according to the article.

However, while a fungus-fueled zombie apocalypse may not happen, fungal infections in general are becoming a greater threat to global health.

The CDC reported that in 2021, about 7,199 Americans died from fungal disease.

The most deadly fungi were said to be aspergillus and candida, also known as a yeast infection. While yeast infections are normally harmless, these can become fatal for those with underlying health conditions.

According to the article, there has been a rise in infectious disease connecting to fungi that has gained the ability to resist multiple anti-fungal drugs, especially Candida auris and aspergillus..

Scientists attributed the new adaptions in fungi to both climate change and the use of fungicides in agriculture. Medicating against fungal infections in humans is also difficult due to the fact that fungal cells are eukaryotic like plants and animals, not prokaryotic like bacteria.

Aside from direct threats to human health, it could impact our environment as 80% of plant disease are caused by fungi, which could threaten important plant species and destroy crops.

“Cryphonectria parasitica eliminated almost 4 billion sweet chestnut trees in the eastern United States after its geographic introduction, Magnaporthe oryzae has destroyed rice crops, and Puccinia graminis has emerged as a major risk for grains,” the article states. “Panzootics can be caused by fungi, even threatening to evolve into extinction-level events; a recent example is the emergence of chytrid fungi that have menaced numerous amphibian species.”

Even with these potential problems, the article stated that a fungal pandemic is unlikely, especially because people do not exhale fungal spores after inhaling them like we do bacteria and viruses.

However, if it were to happen, humanity would be very ill-prepared. There are no vaccines to prevent fungal infections, and treatments can have major side effects.

According to a World Health Organization report, research into fungal infections get “less than 1.5% of all infectious disease research funding.”

So yes, when you watch Joel and Ellie running from those clickers, be glad that fungi aren’t as contagious as they are in fiction.

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