Yup...and since thats how the real Cordyceps works, not a huge stretch of imagination for the story plot of the series. It also meant some clever-ish plot variations not having spores, since in the game,
Joel is first convinced of Ellie's immunity after seeing her breathe spores, in the TV series...since that was now not an option, they had to go with (left the small spoilers with a click to reveal option)
a second bite during the museum sequence.
I get the reasons for the change...having actors wearing gas masks for half an entire episode along with the technical and physical hurdles of that isn't practical for a TV series. Still much prefer the spores though, without those...how are the bloaters going to work?