Expert warns IRl fungus is just three steps away from a Last of Us scenario

An expert has warned that IRI fungus is just three steps away from a Last of Us scenario. We’re all doomed, doomed I tell you!

Ever since I watched an episode of Planet Earth narrated by Sir David Anttenbourgh in 2009 which documented a Cordyceps fungus that quite literally takes over its victim to spread its virus, I thought “what a horrible way to go”.

Then The Last of Us was released in 2013 and like that popular meme of Leonardo DiCaprio pointing at the screen from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, my morbid curiosity turned into dread with the minuscule chance of this horrific virus infiltrating the human race. So yeah, nice on Naughty Dog.

Well, according to a Fungal Infection Group research associate (thanks LADBible via Daily Mail), that morbid curiosity might be closer to our reality than we first feared. In fact, the researcher in question, Norman van Rhijn of Manchester University believes that the real-life human form of the cordyceps virus may only be three steps away from unleashing hell upon earth. Yay!

So, what are these three steps of impending doom and annihilation? Well, apparently, much like in The Last of Us, the fungal virus would require changes to temperature, changes to the structure of our body, and finally, tweaks to our immune system.

It’s worth keeping in my mind that The Last of Us virus becoming a reality to us is very unlikely. However, that’s exactly what that researcher said in episode one of the HBO series. Surely it won't happen, right?

“It either needs to be a complete breakdown of our immunity to that fungus or the fungus needs to evolve a radical strategy not to be recognised by a complete range of cell types," van Rhijn told the Daily Mail.

In related news, we spoke to the voice of Tommy from the video game series, Jeffrey Pierce on the possibility of the character's return in The Last of Us: Part 3 as well as the actor's role in the HBO adaptation.

The Last of Us TV series airs every Sunday on HBO Max in the US and every Monday on Sky Atlantic in the UK.