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Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus, is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. O.

Humans cannot carry the fungus or be infected by it in any way due to the high internal temperatures of the human body. Human bodies are also much more complex than those of ants and other insects, which protects them from cordyceps infection.

Humans cannot carry the fungus or be infected by it in any way due to the high internal temperatures of the human body. Human bodies are also much more complex than those of ants and other insects, which protects them from cordyceps infection.

The fungus does not typically infect or harm humans and cannot take over the human body. The high temperatures of the human body are not suitable for the Cordyceps fungus, so it cannot live, multiply and take over the body as it does insects and other arthropods.

The fungus Ophiocordyceps camponoti-floridani can infect ants and manipulate their behaviour in a way that is beneficial for fungus growth and transmission. These infected ants are also called zombie ants.

The hit series is science fiction, but could a pandemic caused by fungi happen in real life? Not in the way “The Last of Us” portrays it, with a fungus that currently infects only insects mutating into a threat for humans when it learns to survive in higher temperatures, experts say.

Cordyceps, or Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is indeed a real fungus that parasitizes the brains of insects like ants or spiders.

The Cordyceps originated from South America, carrying into humans through infected crops.