PNAS: global warming will make fungi dangerous to humans
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Microbiologists from the American Duke University said that the occurrence of such pathogenic fungi, as in the computer game and the TV series The Last of Us, is quite real. They published their article in the journal PNAS.
Due to global warming, the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus deneoformans is starting to mutate, and mutations can lead to increased heat resistance and disease potential.
“This news may spark interest in viewers of HBO’s new series The Last of Us, in which the cordyceps fungus adapted to the heat and was able to infect people into zombies,” the article says.
This can be especially dangerous for people with a weakened immune system or concomitant diseases, and an increase in the temperature on the planet accelerates the mutation process.
Now such a fungus as Cordyceps unilateral parasitizes mainly on ants, making them a kind of “zombie”, forcing them to leave the colony and spread spores. However, the human body temperature is too high for them.
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