Could the next public health crisis be caused by a fungus?

Such an emergency is the basis of the post-apocalypse TV drama series The Last Of Us, which has returned for its second season on Sky Atlantic.

Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the show takes place in a world ravaged by a pandemic caused by a mass cordyceps outbreak, which transforms people into bloodthirsty abominations.

The prospect was outlined in its debut episode in 2023, when a prescient epidemiologist played by John Hannah warned how a warming climate could force some fungus to evolve into something more dangerous.

“Candida, ergot, cordyceps, aspergillus: any one of them could be capable of burrowing into our brains and taking control of not millions of us, but billions,” he said.

An extreme outcome with plenty of artistic licence taken – but is it entirely without scientific basis?

Do fungi really threaten humans?

“There are numerous fungi infecting the brains of human beings all over the planet, often with devastating outcomes,” says Professor Elaine Bignell, a world leader in the field of human fungal pathogen research.

“A number of fungal species are quite prominent pathogens and kill hundreds of thousands of people every year – it’s just the public is not well aware of this.”

A few of the dangers identified by The Last Of Us’s fictional epidemiologist previously featured on a list of health-threatening fungi by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Among the fungi deemed most high-risk was Aspergillus fumigatus, a common mould widespread in the environment in homes and outdoors, which can cause “chronic and acute lung disease” and can be deadly.

Candida species, which are behind complaints like thrush and skin rashes, are also one of the leading causes of bloodstream infection in intensive care patients.

Cryptococcosis neoformans – which infects the lungs and brain, causing pneumonia and meningitis in immunosuppressed patients – also made the list. It kills more than 100,000 people a year in sub-Saharan Africa.

“One thing killer fungi do have in common is they are able to grow at human body temperature, and that’s unusual for a fungus,” Prof Bignell tells Sky News.

“Most fungi in the environment are suited to growing in more temperate conditions, and it places quite a strain on any microorganism to counteract an immune response in a human body and cope with the high temperature.”

What about cordyceps?

Cordyceps was not on the threat list – but it is absolutely real.

The parasitic fungus infects and takes over the mind of insects, as it does to humans in The Last Of Us.

“There are about 600 species,” says Dr Mark Ramsdale, a professor in molecular microbiology at the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology.

“They are predominantly insect pathogens. It’s their insect host that they manipulate and change their behaviour. And so from that perspective, there is some basis there.”

Found in tropical forests, the fungus penetrates an insect’s body via spores, which are released to allow a fungus to reproduce and defend itself.

The fungus then guides its host into more humid locations to help it grow, before feeding on the remains and launching new spores from its corpse.

When it comes to humans, cordyceps is used in treatments and therapeutics – notably Chinese herbal medicines.

“There’s a long history of relationships between humans and this particular group,” Dr Ramsdale tells Sky News.

“There’s no evidence they’re causing disease in humans. However, in terms of their insect relationships, they do manipulate their hosts – and several fungi have evolved this capacity over time.”

Could climate change the picture?

Another facet of The Last Of Us shared by the WHO’s landmark report was the potential influence of climate change on the nature of fungi and our relationship with it.

Prof Bignell says the impact of global heating will be “profound” for all microbes on our planet.

There are some 150,000 identified species of fungi in the world, well short of the millions estimated to exist, and few have what it takes to cope with the 37C temperature and other stresses imposed by the human body.

But some do, and more could – either those yet to be discovered or which adapt to survive on a warming planet.

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“It changes the selection pressures that are put on those huge, diverse life forms,” says Dr Ramsdale.

“Perhaps some could potentially make that transition from one lifestyle to another and become pathogenic in a context we haven’t thought of before.”

So the show’s pandemic may be far from factual, but it’s not completely without merit.

“What really is the most removed from the current status quo is the scale and the rate of the infections occurring in The Last Of Us,” says Prof Bignell.

“Some fungi can get passed from one person to the next – and in the environment we are exposed to them all the time – but it would take a very significant variant to be able to cause the sorts of species extinction event they’re dramatising.”

So … no reason for alarm?

You can sleep easy knowing there won’t be a fungus that turns you into a zombie in your cereal tomorrow morning.

But COVID, researchers say, is proof we can’t rest on our laurels when it comes to public health threats and the potentially sudden nature of their arrival.

With fungal infection in humans being a relatively modern phenomenon, with few examples until the 1980s, and the absence of any antifungal vaccine research programmes, there’s certainly work to do.

“We have to be in a state of preparedness,” says Prof Bignell.

“We have to have a very good understanding of how different fungi can cause human diseases, how our immune systems cope with those microbes, and a good medicine cabinet with antifungal agents we know are effective.”

In the meantime, if you do happen to see anyone that looks like they’re covered in mushrooms and feasting on a member of their family – best steer clear.

The Last Of Us airs every Monday at 2am on Sky Atlantic.

Clodagh Rodgers, a singer best known for representing the UK at the 16th Eurovision Song Contest, has died aged 78.

The Northern Irish singer was described as “the rock of this family” by her son Sam, who said she died on Friday 18 April.

Sam Sorbie wrote: “With a heavy heart, my dear beautiful mum Clodagh has sadly passed away after battling an illness for the last three years. She passed away peacefully yesterday, surrounded by her family in Cobham.

“Mum has lived an incredible life, full of love and happiness. Her fantastic career performing, travelling the world, devoting her life to her two sons and being the rock of this family.

“Life will not be the same without Mum, but she will finally be at peace now with dad, nanny and pappa. We all love and miss her terribly.”

A regular face on the TV in the 1970s and 1980s, Rodgers performed Jack In The Box at the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, finishing in fourth place behind Germany, Spain and the winners, Monaco.

Jack In The Box went on to reach number four in the UK singles chart, and although she entered the charts later that year with Lady Love Bug, the Eurovision track remained her biggest hit.

Rodgers began singing as a youngster and got her first record deal aged just 15.

She went on to appear on primetime shows including The Morecombe And Wise Show, The Two Ronnies, Top Of The Pops, Bruce Forsyth & The Generation Game and The Val Doonican Show.

She was chosen as the face of Bisto gravy in the 70s, following her Eurovision hit.

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A talented live performer, she also starred in her own West End show Talk Of The Town, and West End musical hit Blood Brothers, as well as numerous variety shows and the pantomime Cinderella, co-starring comedian Ronnie Corbett.

Rodgers released six albums, five compilation records and numerous singles across her six-decade career. She insured her voice for £1m.

In 2001 she appeared as a recurring character in police drama The Bill.

Married twice, Rodgers leaves behind her two sons, Sam and Matt.

Hip hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has lost a bid to delay his upcoming sex-trafficking trial by two months.

US district judge Arun Subramanian said the 55-year-old rapper made his request too close to his trial, which is due to start next month.

Jury selection is currently scheduled for 5 May with opening statements set to be heard seven days later.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to five criminal counts including racketeering and sex trafficking.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan US attorney’s office accuse Combs of using his business empire to sexually abuse women between 2004 and 2024.

Combs’s lawyers say the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.

In a court filing on Wednesday, Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo asked Mr Subramanian to delay the trial because he needed more time to prepare his defence to two new charges which were brought on 4 April.

The charges were of sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Mr Agnifilo also said his team needs extra time to review emails it wants an alleged victim to turn over.

The new allegations brought the total number of criminal charges against the rap mogul to five – following the three original counts, which also included racketeering conspiracy, filed in September.

Federal prosecutors were opposed to any delay, writing in a Thursday court filing that the additional charges brought
earlier this month did not amount to substantially new conduct.

They also said Combs was not entitled to the alleged victim’s communications.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the Sean Combs trial

Meanwhile, Mr Subramanian is weighing other evidentiary issues, such as whether to allow alleged victims to testify under pseudonyms.

Also known during his career as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Notorious B.I.G, Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.

But prosecutors have said his success concealed a dark side.

They say his alleged abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak-offs” with male sex workers, who were sometimes transported across state lines.

Combs has been in jail in Brooklyn since September, having been denied bail.

He also faces dozens of civil lawsuits by women and men who have accused him of sexual abuse.

Combs has strenuously denied all allegations of wrongdoing.