According to BGR
The fictional world of The Last of Us has renewed public interest in Cordyceps, a group of parasitic fungi famous for infecting insects and manipulating their behavior. As discussions continue about whether a similar fungal outbreak could ever affect humans, scientists emphasize that the scenario portrayed in the television series and video game remains scientifically implausible based on current biological evidence. While Cordyceps fungi possess remarkable evolutionary adaptations that enable them to control specific insect hosts, researchers explain that these highly specialized pathogens are restricted by host specificity, environmental requirements, and fundamental differences between insect and human biology. A 2024 analysis published in Emerging Infectious Diseases by researchers Georgios Pappas and Georgia Vrioni examined this question directly, evaluating whether a Cordyceps-driven fungal pandemic is possible and the reasons behind its current improbability.
Cordyceps fungi belong primarily to the genera Ophiocordyceps and Cordyceps, which have evolved over millions of years alongside particular insect species. One of the most well-known examples, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, infects carpenter ants by entering the insect’s body through fungal spores. After colonization, the fungus influences the ant’s nervous system and behavior, causing it to climb vegetation and attach itself before dying. The fungus then produces a fruiting body that releases new spores into the environment, allowing the life cycle to continue. This highly coordinated process depends on precise biochemical interactions that are unique to the fungus and its specific insect host — the Library of Congress notes that O. unilateralis has parasitized ants for an estimated 45 million years without ever making the jump to mammals, and most of its many known species cannot even infect other ant species beyond their single specific host. Scientists note that similar behavioral manipulation has not been demonstrated in humans or other mammals.
Researchers explain that several biological barriers make a human Cordyceps pandemic extremely unlikely. Human body temperature is significantly higher than that of insects, creating an environment that many insect-pathogenic fungi cannot tolerate. Scott Roberts, MD, an infectious disease specialist at Yale School of Medicine, explains that most fungal species cannot grow above 98.6°F (37°C), and some mycologists hypothesize that humans and other mammals may have evolved this relatively high body temperature partly as a defense against fungal infection. In addition, the human immune system is far more complex than that of insects and rapidly recognizes many fungal pathogens before they can establish infection. Cordyceps fungi also exhibit extraordinary host specificity, meaning they have evolved to infect only certain insect species through highly specialized molecular interactions — microbiologist Dan Buckley has noted that Ophiocordyceps affects insects specifically because they are cold-blooded, making the fungus fundamentally unsuited to a warm-blooded host like a human. Successfully adapting to humans would require numerous evolutionary changes involving temperature tolerance, immune evasion, tissue invasion, and transmission mechanisms, none of which have been observed in naturally occurring Cordyceps species. Although climate change may influence the distribution of some fungal pathogens, experts stress that there is currently no evidence suggesting Cordyceps is evolving toward human infection.
The discussion nevertheless highlights the broader importance of fungal diseases in global health. While Cordyceps itself is not considered a realistic human pandemic threat, other fungi—including Candida auris, Aspergillus fumigatus, Cryptococcus neoformans, and Coccidioides species—already cause serious infections in vulnerable populations and continue to receive increasing attention from public health organizations; mycologist Arturo Casadevall has pointed to the WHO’s 2022 fungal priority pathogens list — 19 fungi identified as the greatest threats to public health — as evidence that real fungal disease, rather than a Cordyceps pandemic, deserves the greater share of public concern. Scientists suggest that fictional stories such as The Last of Us can help raise awareness of fungal biology and infectious diseases, provided they are distinguished from established scientific evidence. Continued research into fungal pathogens, emerging infectious diseases, and antifungal resistance remains essential, but current knowledge strongly indicates that a Cordyceps-driven human zombie outbreak belongs to the realm of science fiction rather than realistic medical risk.
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According to BGR
