The Last of Us: Could the Zombie Fungus From the Hit HBO TV Series Happen in Real Life?

The most recent HBO series, “The Last of Us,” is making waves because it portrays a terrifying fungal infection that kills most of humanity and transforms them. This plot point has sparked a debate about whether something similar could actually occur in real life, and some scientists have suggested that global warming may make fungi more dangerous to humans. But the real issue is whether it will all come true one day.

The majority of zombie apocalypse narratives attribute the illness to a virus. A fungus, especially one belonging to the Cordyceps species, is the illness that is responsible for the pandemic in the case of the well-known HBO series Max, which is based on the computer game of the same name. 

According to the series and the video game, this fungus is genuine and has the ability to control ants and other insects. Insects infected by several Cordyceps fungi exhibit altered behavior. The one that most closely matches the fungus in “The Last of Us” is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

The truth depicted in The Last of Us series

In the series’ opening sequence, a scientist who lived in the 1960s is shown as saying that fungi pose one of the biggest hazards to civilization. He cites a fungus that has the ability to take control of the mind of the person it infects and issues a warning that an anticipated general increase in the planet’s temperature might render people more vulnerable to specific kinds of fungal diseases.

The scientist makes reference to the actual Cordyceps fungus, which infects ants and takes over their bodies and behavior. Just before it passes away, the fungus makes the ant migrate to a damp, wet area of a leaf, creating the ideal conditions for Cordyceps to flourish and proliferate.

He also cautions that it only takes one genetic mutation, brought on by an increase in the planet’s temperature, to make an organism able to endure temperatures greater than those of the human body.

The truth about Cordyceps and how they actually spread

Ants are the first to become infected by it once its spores enter their bodies. Once there, it starts consuming non-vital tissues and creating compounds in some as-yet-unknown manner, which causes the animal’s behavior to change and compels it to ascend to the treetops. The fungus starts to eat the important tissues as they grab off the leaves with its jaws, killing them and spreading outward, just like it did to people in The Last of Us.

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New spores are released as soon as it leaves the insect corpse. Since they are elevated, they distribute much more effectively, allowing the fungus to keep growing.

Although experts do not think that something this catastrophic could actually occur as a result of fungi, they do caution about human changes caused by infectious specimens of this group of organisms.

According to a recent study from the Duke University School of Medicine as cited by Lab Manager, “raised temperatures to cause a pathogenic fungus known as Cryptococcus deneoformans to turn its adaptative responses into overdrive. This increases its number of genetic changes, some of which might presumably lead to higher heat resistance, and others perhaps toward greater disease-causing potential.”

Is humanity at gigantic risk? Do we need to prepare for the end of the world?

For the time being, because these fungi can only infect species whose body temperatures do not surpass 34°C, humans are spared from being transformed into zombies by the infection of this fungus. This may alter with a mutation brought on by climate change, as depicted in the series.

Fortunately, though, it doesn’t appear like there’s much of a risk involved, and humanity is still a long way from having to deal with this issue. There are other fungi that can really hurt us, so we can’t be too relaxed too. While they are not yet capable of making humans into zombies, they can nonetheless cause illnesses.

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David Hughes, a professor of biology and entomology at Pennsylvania State University and an expert on cordyceps fungus, provided advice to the game’s creators after the game’s designer, Neil Druckermann, admitted that a documentary about these species served as inspiration.