Liane Hentscher/HBO
- Warning: There are spoilers ahead for season one, episode three of "The Last of Us."
- Joel says the cordyceps outbreak likely started by mutating and tainting foods with flour or sugar.
- Joel, Sarah, and Tommy likely weren't infected on episode one because they avoided eating pancakes, biscuits, and cake.
Sunday's episode of "The Last of Us" revealed how the cordyceps fungal infection likely spread so rapidly around the world. It turns out Joel may have narrowly avoided being infected simply because of his food choices on the series' pilot.
Early on season one, episode three, Ellie asks Joel how the infection began.
"If you have to get bit to be infected than who bit the first person?" Ellie asks.