Cis People Be Like ‘it’s Octopi Not Octopuses’ And Then Misgender You

Cis people be like ‘it’s octopi not octopuses’ and then misgender you

The cordyceps ‘vaccine’ in the Last of Us is bullcrap

I know this is just a game and maybe the science and medical advancement in the game is different from the real world, but if we apply what we know in real life about infectious diseases and preventative medicine in real life, the Fireflies probably wouldn’t be able to make a ‘vaccine’ and would have killed Ellie and destroyed the possibility of a cure for nothing. Here’s why:

1. In the real world, we do not have vaccines for fungal infection. Firstly, because fungal infection are super rare and mostly only affect those with compromised immunity. Secondly, anti-fungal medications are usually very effective against fungal infection so the medical field was never pushed to develop a vaccine for any fungal infections. I’m not saying that developing a vaccine for fungal diseases is impossible, but right now we don’t have any successful fungal vaccine and I highly doubt that in a post-apocalyptic world, this ONE doctor with insufficient equipment would be able to make a vaccine out of Ellie’s sample.

2. A vaccine prevents someone from developing disease after contracting the pathogen, it has no effect on people who already contracted the fungus and developed disease. So it is not a ‘cure’.

3. To make a vaccine, you use a weakened version of the pathogen, or a similar pathogen that does not cause disease in your target species. If they want to make a vaccine for the cordyceps fungus, they could have easily used fungal sample from the infected and engineer a vaccine from it. They didn’t have to kill Ellie for it.

4. In the game, Ellie was unconscious before she entered the Fireflies hospital and remained unconscious throughout the entire time she was there. So, either all the tests and decisions happened in a very short time or they kept her under with anaesthetic drugs. But since Joel was there as well and he woke up to them telling him they are going to kill Ellie, I would say they made a decision to kill ellie in a very short time. The problem is, they only had her for such a short time and they obviously have not studied Ellie before they got her, how in the world could they possibly figure out what makes Ellie immune so quickly?!

5. In the game, they claimed that the reason Ellie is immune is because the fungus has mutated inside of her. But really, there is no way the doctor would know the fungus has mutated unless he got a sample of the fungus. In the game it looked like all they have was an MRI scan. Just using imaging is NOT sufficient to identify a mutation, you would need to look at the sample microscopically and DNA test it. If that doctor somehow got his hand on some of the fungal samples from Ellie and found a mutation, why would he need to cut her brain open? That make absolutely no sense?!

6. They can’t prove the reason that Ellie is immune due to a mutated fungus. To prove the theory, they would need to inoculate the mutated pathogen in a test subject (usually would start with a petri dish of target cells, and then a lab animal) and look for changes. They obviously haven’t done it so how can they be so sure about this and would bet the life of a teenage girl on it?

7. To make a cure, killing Ellie is the VERY LAST thing they should do. Hell, it shouldn’t even be on a list. If they want to make a cure, the VERY FIRST thing they should have done is take her blood and test her plasma. The plasma of our blood contains antibodies, the thing that fights off infections. If I’m the doctor/scientist, knowing Ellie is immune, her plasma is the first thing that I would look at. Because if someone is immune to a disease, that means their body has developed effective antibodies against said infection, and these antibodies will remain in their circulation for some time, and even if the level isn’t enough, upon reintroduction of the pathogen, her antibodies level would skyrocket. Using her plasma, they can potentially treat people after they have been exposed to the fungus. But yea, her plasma would be the cure so killing her is stupid.

8. In this vast population of humans, it is highly impossible that Ellie is the only one who is immune.

I know this is just a game but I’m way too emotionally invested in this. And the fact that they made it sounds like Abby’s father was going to develop a cure and that he is a saint, is absolute bullcrap. He was going to kill an innocent girl and the last hope for a cure for NOTHING. Joel did the right thing by saving her.