In 2020, the world faced a global pandemic, so one of the gloomy scenarios of the future became a reality.
The plot of The Last of Us
The Last of Us is an American post-apocalyptic television series produced by HBO. It is based on a video gameThe Last of Us, which was developed in 2013at Naughty Dog. It tells the story of smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal), who accompanies teenage girl Ellie (Bella Ramsay) across the United States in a post-apocalyptic environment.
According to the plot, it begins in 2003a pandemic of a fungal infection that turns people into bloodthirsty monsters. With the outbreak of the infection, Joel and his daughter Sarah flee the city, but the girl is killed by a soldier. Twenty years later, the fungus has infected the whole world.
What are people infected with in The Last of Us?
All the zombie people in the universeThe Last of Uscordyceps cerebral infection. It is caused by the parasitic fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. In GameThe Last of Usthe infection caused a pandemic and destroyed most of humanity, turning people into zombies.
In fact, the mushroom exists in reality.Cordyceps parasitizes carpenter ants of the species Camponotus leonardi. It was discovered in 1859 by British naturalist Alfred Wallace and is common in tropical forests.
How does the fungus from The Last of Us infect the real world?
Here's how it "works":When an ant (or other arthropod) emerges from a nest in search of food, cordyceps spores fall on it along with raindrops from a nearby tree, trunk or branch.
The spores attach to the insect, releasingdigestive enzymes that break down its hard outer shell. The fungal mycelium begins to grow inside the animal and eventually takes over the insect's brain, which begins to produce neurotransmitters that affect its functioning. The “transformation” is complete: the ant begins to stumble and convulse, as if “following the commands” of the cordyceps.
Ants stop living their livesand exist at the pleasure of the fungus, climbing up the tree trunk. Having reached the top, the insects cling to the stem or leaf with a literally death grip. The ants die within six hours of infection, and two to three days later a fungal stalk appears from the neck.
An example of an insect infection by a fungus. Photo: Holger Crisp, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Then the spores begin to fall again with the rain, and the cycle repeats.
Does humanity face a future like in The Last of Us?
In reality, a fungus fromThe Last of Usinfects only insects, but is not dangerous toof people. At least for now, says Rebecca Rosengaus, an assistant professor and behavioral ecologist at Northeastern University, although she doesn't rule out such a scenario in the future. Just because there isn't a pathogen now that will also take over our brains doesn't mean it won't happen in the future.
But in the case of cordyceps, this is hardly possible.The fact is that people are warm-blooded. And most fungi and molds do not grow well in high temperatures. Scientists consider humans an inhospitable environment for cordyceps.
João Araujo, researcher in the fieldmycology at the New York Botanical Garden, believes that fungi are “not ready to invade the human body, take root in it and transmit spores,” as in the seriesThe Last of Us. They parasitize insects for more than 130 million years and still cannot take root in any mammals.
In general, the world may face something similarscenario in the future, mainly due to the growing trend of zoonotic diseases. But the future deadly pathogen is more likely to be a rabies-like virus rather than a fungus.
As noted by David Hughes, an expert on “zombie fungi” who advised the game’s authorsThe Last of Us, the zombie fungus will simply lose the ability to control minds in the process, and will not have the proper “tools.” So far it is only dangerous for insects.
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