Health & Medicine

Humans have shockingly few ways to treat fungal infections

Antifungal vaccines and drugs are in the works, but progress is achingly slow

A large humanoid figure covered in rough fungus runs through a crowd of people during a snow storm in a scene from The Last of Us. In the real world, antifungal treatments combat fungi.

Fungi-infested zombies in The Last of Us are hard to kill. Fungal infections are on the rise in the real world, and while they don’t zombify people, there are precious few antifungal treatments.

Courtesy of HBO

By Tina Hesman Saey

Fighting fungi isn’t easy.

Season two of the streaming series The Last of Us has arrived on Max (light spoilers ahead), bringing viewers back to a world where people combat zombies puppeteered by a mind-controlling fungus.