Originally published at: A plant fungus has infected a human for the first time | Boing Boing
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If he starts have severe headaches, and has an urge to climb a tree, stay far outside the dispersal zone. Just some advice.
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Plant fungi probably wouldn’t have any mind control, right? That would be something you’d only need for infecting animals. So good news, really it’s only…every other infection we should have to worry about. 
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Evolution is a merciless beast.
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purple ergot fungus enters chat.
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https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1711673114
Abstract
Some microbes possess the ability to adaptively manipulate host behavior. To better understand how such microbial parasites control animal behavior, we examine the cell-level interactions between the species-specific fungal parasite Ophiocordyceps unilateralis sensu lato and its carpenter ant host (Camponotus castaneus) at a crucial moment in the parasite’s lifecycle: when the manipulated host fixes itself permanently to a substrate by its mandibles. The fungus is known to secrete tissue-specific metabolites and cause changes in host gene expression as well as atrophy in the mandible muscles of its ant host, but it is unknown how the fungus coordinates these effects to manipulate its host’s behavior. In this study, we combine techniques in serial block-face scanning-electron microscopy and deep-learning–based image segmentation algorithms to visualize the distribution, abundance, and interactions of this fungus inside the body of its manipulated host. Fungal cells were found throughout the host body but not in the brain, implying that behavioral control of the animal body by this microbe occurs peripherally. Additionally, fungal cells invaded host muscle fibers and joined together to form networks that encircled the muscles. These networks may represent a collective foraging behavior of this parasite, which may in turn facilitate host manipulation.
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It begins. . . .
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My guess is that this has happened previously, it’s just that we never documented it before. They may go back and re-analyze some old histology specimens, and see if they saw it before.
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Its such a weird film. Plays pretty much for the most part like Gilligan’s Island From Hell except for the last 10 minutes when you get the fiendish fungus people.
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“He’s got wood for Heather Locklear!”
I couldn’t help myself.
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Although it seems like the cordyceps fungus doesn’t control an ant’s brain, but actually directly controls its muscles to make it climb. (Which is more disturbing, really.) Other fungi still seem to control insect behaviors, though.
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Scared the living shit outta me when I was a kid. I would not eat mushrooms on pizza until sometime in my late teens.
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Now you’ve put me in mind of Dr. Droz in the Pianotuner of Earthquakes when a massive fungus spore violently sprouted from his forehead.
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