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An infected worm works through the soil or vegetation in a farmer's crop where the fungal disease leaves trails of spores infecting all of the produce - the fungus then alters the internal composition of the crop to contain higher levels of an immunosuppressant compound.
Humans then eat the produce and are affected in two subtle ways. The fungus makes a permanent home, mostly harmlessly, in the spleen, stomach, liver, and bone marrow of an infected host and can be spread in rare cases through breast feeding. The immunosuppressant allows for the fungus to infect the host and then after that it takes control within major immune organs - alike the strategy of an intestinal worm, an immune response would be devastating to both host and parasite. Further the fungus alters the microbiome and liver to make the host crave sugar and grain produce.
A human host will die and is buried, infecting the worms, who then spread the fungus again over the roots of the crops. The disease is incurable (see above), but mostly harmless, other than an increased risk of diabetes in human hosts. If infected before adolescence, congenital or after birth, the fungus will stunt the height and IQ of the young host - but the host will also be at lower risk of heart disease, cancer, and diabetes than a healthy uninfected individual.
