Three scientists, including one that consulted on the original video game, make the call on fact or fiction in HBO's new hit show, The Last of Us.
What if it was a parasitic fungus?That is the chilling premise of HBO's The Last of Us: a post-pandemic world devastated by a mass outbreak of a "zombie fungus" that infects and takes over the mind of its hosts.The creators of The Last of Us video game have said they were inspired by an episode of BBC's Planet Earth series, narrated by David Attenborough.
"The original BBC Documentary called it Cordcyeps — but correctly, we should say Ophiocordyceps," Dr Hughes told ABC News.When asked how many species of Ophiocordyceps there were, Dr Hughes said, "likely thousands".Can fungi infect and control humans?"It’s not possible in the way The Last of Us shows us," says Professor Justin Beardsley, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Sydney.
"That's because many toxic mushrooms look very similar to safe, edible mushrooms," Dr Beardsley said. It's this moment when the show declares the real cause of the spread of Ophiocordyceps infections to humans: climate change.
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