Mycologist Reveals Fungus Is Only Three Steps Away From Making The Last Of Us A Reality

The Last of Us on HBO is regarded as the best television show right now, but what if science fiction came true?

The nightmare-inducing cordyceps fungus that transforms people into raving zombies in the post-apocalyptic video game adaption is, in fact, a real condition.

So you may rest comfortably tonight knowing that.

Furthermore, one scientist claims that it will only take three more steps for the zombie fungus to infect humans in the real world.

The cordyceps would only require temperature changes, changes to the physical nature of our body, and modifications to the way our immune systems function in order to infect man.

Norman van Rhijn, a research associate with the Fungal Infection Group at Manchester University, noted that for the zombie fungus to infect the entire population, "our immunity as a whole" would need to change.

"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 recognized by a complete range of cell types," he told the Daily Mail.

"We don’t fully understand it yet. But in order for a fungal pandemic to occur, our immune system must become insufficient to clear the fungus before it invades our tissue."

He said that since cordyceps already permeates cold-blooded creatures like ants, it would have to overcome body temperature to attack humans.

"So ant's body temperature is a lot colder ... our elevated temperature is a thermal barrier for many things (including fungi) that can’t grow at that temperature.”

"Basically, you can see our temperature as part of our immune system - another reason we get fever is to raise our temperature to fend off infections.”

"So in order for a fungus to infect us, it needs to learn how to cope with a nearly 20-degree difference."

All of these seem like enormous hurdles that a virus would have to overcome, but the mycologist believes they are not impossible.

He continued by saying that the TV show's actual plot is not so absurd.

"I remember the first scene where you see the scientists talking about this range of fungi and that it's all going to change, I would say that is almost 100 percent right," van Rhijn told the Daily Mail.

"[The Last of Us] has taken inspiration from scientific proof and just sensationalized that a little bit."

However, van Rhijn emphasized that such a drastic transformation won't occur in our lifetimes, so don't start to freak out that the cordyceps will be the cause of the next epidemic.

Then he added: "Never say never."