Recently, streaming platform HBO Max premiered the series The Last of Us based on the video game franchise created by Neil Druckmann. The great success of the first episode conquered the news all week, having even surpassed the audience of the premiere of the series. House of the Dragon and the second season of euphoria in Latin America.
The first episode already begins with a scene, set in 1968, in which two epidemiologists are interviewed about the possibility of new epidemics, one of whom believes in a virus, and the other in a fungus as the causative agent of the next one. In the series the Cordyceps it is the fungus responsible for controlling the mind of human beings. But in real life, this mushroom exists…
In fact, more than 600 species have already been described that infect insects and other arthropods, such as scorpions and spiders, turning them into “zombies”. These fungi are able to control the motor functions for their propagation through changes in the behavior of their host. Infection in humans, as described in the series, would be unlikely and would require major changes and a few million years.
But it’s not impossible! While most fungi cannot grow satisfactorily at temperatures above 25°C, evolution has proven otherwise. THE candida auris it began infecting humans after adapting to bird bodies, becoming a resistant human pathogen.
Worldwide, yeast infections kill 1.7 million people each year. They evolve rapidly and become more difficult infections to treat, due to the high potential for antifungal resistance, making it a challenge in finding treatments and vaccines. In addition to other peculiarities that can facilitate its adaptation to climate change and our immune system. A more recent example is seen in patients who are immunocompromised or after recovery from COVID-19, where the person is more vulnerable to opportunistic infections, mainly fungal infections from candida albicans And candida auris. Additionally, some fungi can cross the blood-brain barrier, infecting the central nervous system.
Although there is no evidence that we are close to the scenario portrayed in the series, humanity is creating perfect conditions to guide and select fungi capable of developing at high temperatures and increasingly resistant. Due to global warming and the use of fungicides in agriculture, we can speed up a few years of evolution and target the selection of traits that make us more susceptible to infection.
To what extent can the presence of fungi in the Central Nervous System make us real “zombies”?
The bodies can become an extension of the fungal phenotype itself, as the fungus is known to secrete specific metabolites into tissue and cause changes in host gene expression. Which results in altered host behavior.
Fungal cells are connected and form a network to collectively control host behavior.
Until then, as an example of zombie ants, the fungal cells control the peripheral nervous system, preserving the brain for the animal’s survival while the fungus plans the ultimate goal, which is to propagate. In the first episode of the series we see that the form of propagation is through the bite.
The brains of manipulated ants show changes in neuromodulatory substances, signs of neurodegeneration, changes in energy consumption and antioxidant compounds that signal stress reactions by the host.
But I’m talking about ants, for humans it is more unlikely that such a fungus can turn us into zombies, due to the differences between human and insect biology.
I think the improbable is not impossible… It opens up the possibility, however remote, of a pandemic as he could easily lose his mind control power in the process.
This text is part of a study I am doing together with Dalila G Suterio, biologist and infectious disease specialist.
Dr. Fabiano de Abreu Agrela Rodrigues, is postdoctoral and PhD in neurosciences, elected member of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society and member of the Society for Neuroscience (USA) and of the APA – American Philosophical Association, Master in Psychology, Bachelor in Biology is history; also Technologist in Anthropology with various national and international trainings in Neuroscience and Neuropsychology. He is director of the Heráclito Research and Analysis Center (CPAH), scientist at the Martin Dockweiler University Hospital, head of the science and technology department at Logos University International, active member of Redilat, associate member of APBE – Associação Portuguesa de Biologia Evolutiva . He is a member of Mensa, Intertel and TNS.
The post What if fiction became reality and a mushroom turned us into zombies? first appeared on Look Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
