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Why is Ellie immune is all related to “The Last of Us.”

It is an HBO adaptation of the popular video game, and it has been a ratings and critical success since its premiere in January. 

The show and the game are set in a future where civilization has been devastated by an epidemic of Cordyceps, a parasitic fungal sickness. 

The virus has spread for 20 years as the savage infected roamed the Earth searching for new hosts.

A hardened survivor named Joel (Pedro Pascal) was asked to transport a teenage girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the United States to a lab so that her blood can be used to create a vaccine.

Infected, FEDRA members, Hunters, cannibals, and a few allies all populate the world that Joel and Ellie explore together for most of the game.

The mystery of Ellie’s immunity to the disease persists among it all. 

After being bitten by an infected woman while exploring an abandoned mall with her friend and potential romantic interest, Riley (Storm Reid), she quickly learns she is immune. 

These two then decide to battle to the death. Fortunately, as the days passed, Ellie never became one of the mindless infected.

In the show, most people get so taken aback by Ellie’s immunity that they don’t even question it.

However, the source of her immunity is crucial. It might be possible to repeat this genetic miracle if it isn’t just a fluke.

Why is Ellie Immune to Fungus?

Anna, Ellie’s mom (and played by herself, Ashley Johnson), appears at the beginning of episode nine. 

She is amid labor contractions while trying to outrun an invisible enemy. 

She tries to enter what she believes to be a safe house by shouting, “It’s me,” but no one is there to hear her.

Her water breaks as she ascends the stairs to the main floor of the house.

She sits on the floor and shuts the door behind her to rest. An Infected zombie is chasing her; her only defense is a knife.

After being bitten, she manages to knife the zombie to death.

Anna gives birth while they are fighting, and she hears Ellie’s scream just as she feels the bite on her leg. 

With pride and affection for her “tough” newborn daughter, the mother snips the umbilical cord and then cradles her.

The leader of the Fireflies, Marlene (Merle Dandridge), unexpectedly shows up that night and discovers Anna and the infant. 

Anna explains that she was bitten right after giving birth but that her baby, Ellie, is safe because she didn’t nurse. 

Moreover, Anna urges Marlene to take Ellie to Boston but warns that if she does, she will have to kill her best friend, to prevent Ellie from becoming infected.

After much deliberation, Marlene gives in.

Exploring Ellie’s immunity

After the Fireflies have abducted Joel and Ellie in the present day, Marlene explains to Joel why is Ellie immune. 

Since she reveals that “our doctor thinks that the cordyceps in Ellie have grown in her since birth,” she must have understood that her friend had misled her about the timing of her infection.

It is what gives her immunity; typical cordyceps mistake her for being cordyceps.

Joel plans to take the immunity from her, culture the cells in a lab until they can create the necessary chemical signals, and then distribute them to the public. 

They believe it has curative potential.

But cordyceps spread through the brain, so they’d have to kill Ellie to get rid of it.

The Fireflies didn’t warn Ellie about the operation, and Joel isn’t going to let them put her to death.

Why is Ellie immune: What was the cause?

This theory has yet to hold up 100% throughout the years, as numerous fans have pointed out in Reddit threads.

First, why wouldn’t Ellie have triggered FEDRA’s virus scanners over the years if she had the infection from birth? 

If she tested positive for the virus, she got barred from attending a FEDRA institution.

After being bitten, she is convinced she will become a zombie; she shows no signs of realizing she may be immune.

Some have hypothesized that Ellie’s immunity to the fungus got primed by her prenatal exposure to even trace amounts of the organism, just like a vaccine primes an immune system. 

Ellie’s immune system lights up on fungal scanners in the game, but the surgeon’s testing reveals that she isn’t fighting off an infection. 

Her white blood cell count got expected to be harmful to the fungus.

Some have speculated that this is all a coincidence and that the strain of fungus that Ellie contracted had a mutation that prevented it from transforming anyone else who got it.

However, it’s not true either, as Riley (Storm Reid) and Ellie got bitten by the same zombie and turned.

But that’s the point: the ambiguity. Marlene doubts that Ellie has the cure, but she is prepared to kill her nevertheless.

Furthermore, Marlene’s desperation to eliminate the virus is only made more evident.

Is Ellie’s immunity a cure?

Ellie’s immunity may not have been scientifically significant enough to develop a vaccine or treatment. 

Fungus-specific vaccinations are not yet available for use in clinical practice.

In February, NBC News reported that development of such devices had begun but would likely only hit store shelves for a short time. 

And this is in a more woolly and technological world than the dystopian future of “The Last of Us.”

Vaccinologist Christine Rollier predicted in a 2016 video for Wellcome Trust discussing the game that was finding a treatment for the infection, should it exist, would take 20 years. 

Rollier also said there’s “not a chance” Ellie’s tissue got used to create a vaccination in another video for the project. “That’s not how a vaccine or the immune system works,” she said. 

She clarified that Ellie’s immunity did not prevent the illness but rather that she is “not susceptible” to the fungus. 

She drew an analogy between this and that some people are immune to HIV because they carry a mutation in a protein that the virus cannot adhere to. 

However, she did mention that Ellie’s anti-fungal antibodies got used to develop new ones, but the Fireflies aren’t interested in that at all in the competition.

In The Last of Us, can Ellie infect others?

Who or what is infected? They used to be humans, but the brain-infecting fungus Cordyceps has slowly but surely transformed them into monstrosities. 

However, it would be unfair to label them as zombies.

“The infected” are not reanimated corpses but rather living hosts that this parasite has taken over. 

Its sole purpose, is to spread, and in The Last of Us, it does so via bites or airborne spores.

Due to the rapid development of the infection to the brain, the host cannot get treated without causing their death. 

Co-president Neil Druckmann and his team went to “great lengths to create a full biological cycle for these things.” 

The entire life cycle of the fungus, from infection to death, is described here.

Why is Ellie immune has kept fans hooked to the game and the show.

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