Could 'The Last of Us' happen in real life? Microbiologist weighs in

If you’ve seen the hit HBO series “The Last of Us” you may have wondered, could this happen in real life?

The show is set in a post-apocalyptic world where Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a fungus that typically infects ants and insects, has been able to jump to humans, turning its hosts into zombies.

Rebecca Shapiro, a professor in the University of Guelph’s department of molecular and cellular biology, says while Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a real fungus, it would need millions of years to find a way to adapt to infect humans.

“The way it works, where it infects the brain and it causes these changes in behaviour and it sort of grows out of the head, that is based on some real biology that happens in real life, but in ants, all of that’s happening in insects,” Shapiro told CTV’s Leighanne Evans.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONCERNS

However, Shapiro is concerned as climate change forces fungi to adapt to growing in warmer temperatures, they could theoretically become better able to grow in humans, who have an average body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius.

“Meaning they might be able to be better at causing infection in humans,” Shapiro explained.

She pointed to Candida Auris, which the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) calls a “serious global health threat,” as an example of a pathogen that some evidence suggests may have become better able to grow in humans due to climate change.

Like many fungal infections, Candida Auris tends to infect people who are already sick or vulnerable in some way, Shapiro said.

“People who are immunocompromised, people who are hospitalized,” she continued. “In those patient populations, these kinds of fungal infections are very deadly. In fact, sometimes we find upwards of more than 50 per cent of people will die, who get these infections in their bloodstream.”

But not all fungi are bad or need to be feared.

“It's important to know that this is a huge group of organisms. Fungi is an entire kingdom of life,” Shapiro said. “There's massive diversity, some are pathogens, but a lot are not. A lot are incredibly beneficial to us and to our world.”

“I hope people recognize the amazing breadth of diversity amongst these organisms, and that we still have a lot to learn about them.”