Before The Last of Us, I was part of an international team to chart the threat of killer fungi. This is what we found

  • Written by: Justin Beardsley, Associate Professor in Infectious Diseases, Sydney Institute for Infectious Diseases Westmead Clinical School, University of Sydney
Before The Last of Us, I was part of an international team to chart the threat of killer fungi. This is what we foundLiane Hentscher/HBO

Fungal infections have received a frenzy of attention thanks to the popularity of HBO’s The Last of Us. The show depicts a fungal pandemic caused by the real-life zombie-ant fungus, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. It imagines the outcome of society’s collapse and a brutal approach to maintaining public health.

But in...

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