Could a Fungal Pandemic Like in the ‘The Last of Us’ Actually Happen?

Amaze Lab

The Last of US shows a world overtaken by zombies stemming from a fungal infection, but could humans someday be controlled by mushrooms? Well, the world is changing and the science fiction of it isn’t as far off as you might imagine.

Transcript

00:00HBO's The Last of Us, based off the PlayStation game of the same name, shows us a different

00:08kind of zombie apocalypse.

00:10The story is rooted not in some unknown disease that turns people into flesh-eating monsters,

00:14but rather a known fungus that really exists, called Cordyceps.

00:18The fungus is able to infect insects and take over their bodies just like the zombies from

00:22the series.

00:23In real life, the fungus forces the insects to climb to a high point, where it then anchors

00:27and blooms like this, releasing spores from above and possibly infecting more insects,

00:32or like in The Last of Us, more humans.

00:34In the show, they begin the series by detailing how this type of fungus cannot survive in

00:38the human body, because we run too hot, but if it evolved, it could be possible.

00:42But is that fact or fiction?

00:43Experts say controlling the human mind would take more from Cordyceps than simply being

00:47able to acclimate to the human body, but they add they would never say never, as fungi do

00:51contain mind-bending hallucinogens, like psilocybin, and fungal-related illnesses are on the rise.

00:57With the chief of the fungal disease branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

01:00Prevention, Tim Chiller, telling Insider,

01:02I'm not going to be surprised that more fungi emerge as human pathogens.

01:06They become more challenging to treat and more infectious.

01:09And the very real fear is that these fungal infections do get worse and spread more widely.

01:13And just like in the show, there's no cure and no vaccine for these types of infections.

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