• Question: Ants can be infected by a "mind-controlling" fungi, can that happen to humans too?

    Asked by anon-185978 to Danny on 6 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Danny Ward

      Danny Ward answered on 6 Nov 2018:


      That specific type of mind-controlling fungi is called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis and only infects ants. Its cannot infect humans as it doesn’t have the right genetic code to allow for that so we are safe…for now! There are some microbes which infect people or animals and can change their behaviour although that is rare and nothing as bad as Ophiocordyceps unilateralis which creates the zombie ants. A good example of a mind-controlling disease is rabies, a viral disease which makes the infected host afraid of water and aggressive. Thankfully this disease is very rare these days!

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