In The Girl with All the Gifts, what is the name of the fungus causing the zombie-like infection?

In The Girl with All the Gifts, the zombie-like infection is caused by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.

The 2016 film adapts M. R. Carey’s 2014 novel. Its story presents a world in which a fungal pathogen has transformed most humans into violently reactive creatures called hungries. Unlike conventional zombie stories, the film gives special attention to biology, adaptation, and the possibility that the infected may represent a new stage of life rather than simply reanimated corpses.

Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is based on a real parasitic fungus associated with ants. In nature, related fungi manipulate infected insects’ behavior before producing spores. The film expands that idea into speculative human biology; the human infection and its effects are fictional.

A common mistake is answering “Cordyceps,” the broader popular term used in discussions of insect-infecting fungi. The film specifically identifies the fictional human pathogen with the species name Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.