The Last of Us season 2 more grounded in reality than you might think, researchers say

HBO’s hit series The Last of Us is back on TV screens on April 13, and while the premise might seem far-fetched, researchers at the University of British Columbia say it’s not as much as one might think.

The trailer for season 2, which was shot in B.C., appears to show the “zombie fungus” cordyceps infecting humans by releasing airborne spores, which is different than in season one when the fungus appeared to infect humans through tentacles.

Researchers said that many fungal diseases that infect humans, such as Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes meningitis in humans, are spread by inhaling spores.

“Fungi love to make spores,” Dr. Jim Kronstad, a professor and microbiologist at UBC’s Michael Smith Laboratories, said in a statement.

Real-life cordyceps colonizes ant brains, causing the insect to climb to a high branch. The fungus then punches through the ant’s head and rains spores down on the forest floor.

Kronstad said that the introduction of spores apparently infects humans in season 2 of The Last of Us is accurate, as some human infections occur because people are inhaling spores from the environment. This is a common way that fungi spread, not only for human pathogens but also for fungal pathogens of plants.

In addition, in the show, cordyceps, which are harmless and even edible in real life, evolved into a harmful fungus thanks to a warming climate.

“There’s a very good example of that, this pathogen called coccidioides, that causes a disease, valley fever, in the desert southwest of North America, southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, (and) Texas” Kronstad said.

“People have modeled what would happen if the climate warmed by certain levels and how that would expand the range of that particular pathogen up through North America and maybe into southern British Columbia.”

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In a Q&A, Kronstad said climate change and fungi are a concern.

“Most of them can’t grow at our high body temperatures,” he said. “Increasing global temperatures offers an opportunity for fungi to adapt, as they have pretty fast generation times and mutations may occur that help them survive at higher temperatures.”

Kronstad studies Cryptococcus neoformans in his lab, which is a fungus that is inhaled.

He said it can cause meningitis in people who are immunocompromised, for example, people with HIV/AIDS, an estimated 19 per cent of deaths from HIV/AIDS are caused by that fungus.

While the infected in the hit HBO show are shown as becoming more monsters than humans, Kronstad said that it is not the same in real life.

When Cryptococcus neoformans causes meningitis, it can affect things like eyesight, hearing or movement but that is a symptom of damage to the brain, rather than a chemical leading to a change in behaviour, Kronstad explained.

In addition, Bella Ramsey’s character, Ellie’s, immunity to infection is pure fiction.

“That idea that one character in the show could be immune… we’re all kind of immune unless there’s something wrong with our immune system,” Kronstad said.

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