Real-life The Last of Us fungus has infected its first human
The fictional apocalypse of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is closer to becoming a reality, as a real-life human has been infected by a killer fungus.
04th Apr 2023 15:02
Images via HBO
Real-life The Last of Us fungus has infected its first human
The fictional apocalypse of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is closer to becoming a reality, as a real-life human has been infected by a killer fungus.
04th Apr 2023 15:02
Images via HBO
We don't want to scare you, but when you're tucked up at night watching HBO's The Last of Us and thinking, "Thank God that's not happening here," you're not as far away from those mushroom monsters as you might think.
Naughty Dog's video game and the live-action adaptation of the same name see the human race ravaged by the Cordyceps infection. While we hope the human race won't be sprouting mushrooms from its head anytime soon, a worrying real-life case has brought it a little too close to home.
Is The Last of Us outbreak happening in real life?
As reported by LADBible, a 61-year-old Indian plant mycologist became the first-ever recorded man to be infected by a killer plant fungus called chondrostereum purpureum virus.
Apparently, he suffered from flu-like symptoms for months and was struggling to swallow before he was eventually diagnosed. Doctors carried out a scan and discovered a huge abscess on his windpipe.
When the abscess was drained, the fluid was sent off for testing and confirmed it was a chondrostereum purpureum virus infection. The fungus is known to cause the deadly silver leaf disease in plants, however, this is the first time it's jumped to humans.
The Medical Mycology Case Reports journal says the unnamed man "was working with decaying material, mushrooms and various plant fungi for a long time as part of his research activities." The good news is that two years later, the man is "absolutely fine" and the infection hasn't come back.
Is this case bad news for the human race?
The report notes that "among the millions of fungi present in the environment only a few hundreds of fungi are able to infect human and animals." Still, the fact these plant pathogens can cause animal and human diseases is a new concept, it "raises serious questions regarding the propensity of such infection to occur in healthy as well as immunocompromised individuals."
Remembering back to the harrowing opening scene of HBO's The Last of Us (featuring The Mummy's John Hannah), there was a foreshadowing that global warming could lead to a fungus outbreak. Jump to 2003, and that's what caused Cordyceps to mutate.
Again, not to worry you, but this infection is cited in a similar way. The Medical Mycology Case Reports says, "The worsening of global warming and other civilization activities opens Pandora's Box for newer fungal diseases."
We previously reported that we're just three steps away from a The Last of Us-inspired outbreak. The Last of Us was influenced by the real-life Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (zombie ant fungus), and in a case of life imitating art, it's a grim glimpse at our potential future. We hope you sleep well.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
