The series “The Last of Us” from HBO, was successful in portraying a post-apocalyptic world devastated by a fungal infection . Although the story is fictional, this threat really looms over the world, according to experts. After all, as the physicist said John Rex at the SXSW there is evidence to suggest that what caused the extinction of dinosaurs It was precisely them, the fungi .
At the festival, the panel “Will fungi be the last of us?” warned about the increasingly high adaptability of these organisms and how the Artificial intelligence can help combat them.
“Fungi represent a kingdom of organisms, there are around four million species of them living with us daily, in all environments. But only a hundred cause disease in humans”, explained the expert.
However, despite being few within this fungal universe, those who have this “power” also have a high capacity for adaptation and can take us by surprise.
“There are fungi that we call geographical and cause previously treatable diseases, such as valley fever, originating in Bakersfield, in the Central Valley, in California (USA), or sporotrichosis, caused by cats and which emerged in Brazil”, he stated. John .
He warned that, although there are already ways to combat these fungi, the agents of these pathologies can mutate and have worse consequences. Fungi are also reacting to climate change, advancing ahead of humans when it comes to withstanding very high temperatures.
“The mutation of fungi is completely linked to climate change. They live in the environment and, to survive these extremes, they become increasingly strong and difficult to exterminate.” Even from drugs used in hospitals, after a while, they manage to “escape”.
Despite being concerned, Rex was optimistic about the help that AI can provide in this fight. “It is a tool that can take health data from everywhere and help diagnose diseases caused by fungi that we may not even know are caused by them, in addition to crossing characteristics of places and these microorganisms to predict where they can “attack” and We have already isolated the region to prevent the damage from spreading,” he said.
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Source: CNN Brasil
Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.
