If you’re reading this article, there’s a very good chance that you were among the 30.4 million people that tuned in weekly to watch HBO’s The Last of Us. Adapted from the award-winning game of the same title by developer Naughty Dog, the show sparked a wide-spread phenomenon in media. If you watched the show, you’ll know that the main premise was that in an alternate universe on September 27th, 2000, a zombie apocalypse was triggered with the fungal Cordyceps outbreak. This fungi was transmitted quickly through people in the world, turning those infected into mindless zombies and causing fear in those lucky enough to survive. However, a truly terrifying notion from the series is that the Cordyceps infection was not, in fact, something made up by the show’s writers, but is a real infection that occurs. The Cordyceps, or zombie-ant fungus, isn’t something that should be feared at the current moment, which should alleviate fears of a sudden zombie apocalypse.
The Cordyceps zombie-ant infection is exactly what it sounds like. Also known by its scientific name Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, the infection latches onto its host through spores, not unlike in The Last of Us game, draining the host of its nutrients and slowly taking over its host’s mind and behaviors until the host is eventually killed by the Cordyceps. It’s important to note that this specific strain of Cordyceps, the one known for infecting ants, can’t survive in a human host. Cordyceps thrives in the body temperature of an ant, which is in a range from 78-95 degrees Fahrenheit (about 26-35 degrees Celsius). Anything lower or higher, and the fungi can’t sustain itself long enough to take over its host, meaning the average human with a body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius), would kill this strain of Cordyceps. While this strain cannot survive being in a human host, there are variations of it that could, with time, adapt and evolve to withstand the high temperature point of a human body. Parasitic fungi expert João Araújo says that “If the fungus really wanted to infect mammals it would require millions of years of genetic changes,” (Gibbens). Because the primary genetic function of Cordyceps is to infect smaller creatures, like the strain that infects ants, it would require multitudes of genetic changes and adaptations to come close to being able to infect a human with the same results as infecting an ant. However, this is a possibility that may come true in the future, aided by global warming.
A particular strain of the Cordyceps fungi has already undergone this adaptation, called Candida auris. This strain of fungi has been discovered with the capability to infect humans. C. auris is dangerous, as it is resistant to many of the drugs commonly used to treat fungal infections. The one flaw in Candida’s infection process is that it is incapable currently of infecting healthy individuals. C. auris is drawn to people who are ill, or people with predisposed medical conditions that make them more susceptible to illness and infection. Because many of the C. auris strains are resistant to the main three classes of antifungal medicines (azoles, polyenes, and allylamine/thiocarbamates), doctors are now having to create combinations of these medicines in order to treat the infection. Again, however, C. auris has a difficult time infecting healthy individuals, and is spread through touch and colonization, unlike the Cordyceps virus in the TV show.
In The Last of Us TV show, Cordyceps was initially spread on Outbreak Day through what was suspected to be a common food ingredient, supposedly flour or sugar that had a mutated form of Cordyceps. This means the infection was spread quickly and undetected, causing the mass outbreak of the disease. Cordyceps was then spread through either spores from a deceased infected or a bite from an infected individual. However, Cordyceps in the real world is spread through spores, and again, hasn’t mutated enough to make the jump from ants to humans. So, at least for now and the future, you are safe from a zombie infection and won’t have to worry if you could survive a zombie apocalypse.
Works Cited:
About Candida Auris (C. Auris) | Candida Auris | Fungal Diseases | CDC. www.cdc.gov/fungal/candida-auris/candida-auris-qanda.html.
Ghannoum, Mahmoud A., and Louis B. Rice. “Antifungal Agents: Mode of Action, Mechanisms of Resistance, and Correlation of These Mechanisms With Bacterial Resistance.” Clinical Microbiology Reviews, vol. 12, no. 4, Oct. 1999, pp. 501–17. https://doi.org/10.1128/cmr.12.4.501.
Gibbens, Sarah. “Could a Parasitic Fungus Evolve to Control Humans?” Science, 24 Jan. 2023, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/parasitic-fungus-evolve-to-control-humans.
Heyward, Giulia. “The Zombie Fungus From ‘The Last of Us’ Is Real — but Not Nearly as Deadly.” NPR, 30 Jan. 2023, www.npr.org/2023/01/30/1151868673/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-zombie-fungus-real.
Lu, Jennifer. “How a Parasitic Fungus Turns Ants Into ‘zombies.’” Animals, 24 Jan. 2023, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants.
Tsintziras, Aya. “The Last of Us: The Cordyceps Fungus, Explained.” Game Rant, 14 July 2023, gamerant.com/the-last-of-us-cordyceps-fungus-explained.