Could ‘The Last of Us’ happen? With antifungal drug resistance on the rise, who knows?

The widespread use of antifungals, especially in farming, is reducing their effectiveness and making untreatable, fatal diseases more likely

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Dangerous, often fatal fungal diseases are becoming more common as antifungal drug resistance increases. Illustration: Shutterstock

Published: 7:15pm, 8 May 2025

Antifungal resistance – less discussed and well known than antimicrobial resistance – is spreading and leaving people more vulnerable to related infections, some of them deadly.

These fungal infections, or mycoses, don’t look much like the brain-controlling fungus that causes a zombie apocalypse in the hit drama series and video game The Last of Us. However, experts are warning they pose a rising threat as fatal diseases spread in hospitals.

“Mycoses resistant to antifungal drugs are on the increase,” according to the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which has linked the growing resistance to overuse and misuse of antifungal treatments.

It is a similar story to the causes of antimicrobial resistance – which occurs when bacterial infections are not quelled by antibiotics – the spread of which has been accelerated by overusing antibiotics not only as medication but as ingredients in animal feed on farms.

The overuse of antifungals in farming, including in animal feed, is increasing resistance in pathogenic fungi. Photo: Shutterstock

“Treatments against pathogenic fungi are used in agriculture as well as in human and animal health,” the CNRS said, pointing out the “identical resistance mechanisms” shared by antifungals and antibiotics.