Boren's Syndrome

Boren's Syndrome is a human disease caused by prolonged exposure to high-yield plasma, such as from plasma grenades. Symptoms include brain tumors, migraines, and amnesia. Without proper treatment, death commonly occurs. Effective treatment requires thirty weeks of intensive chemotherapy. Unconfirmed claims as to the cause of the disease include inhaling the gases released when a Carbine magazine is ejected.

Sergeant Avery Johnson suffered from Boren's, and was contracted when he used an entire crate of plasma grenades to hold off Covenant forces on Paris IV. This story may possibly be a hoax used to hide that Sergeant Johnson could be a SPARTAN-I, known as the Paris/BS Spoof. However, it would not explain Johnson's immunity to Flood infection.

Several members of the United Rebel Front claimed to have this condition, they hoped to bargain with the UNSC to gain treatment for the condition in trade for some FENRIS Nuclear Warheads.

Long Term Effects
Untreated or unsuccessfully treated, Boren's can be fatal or debilitating. While some direct effects, such as migraines, can be managed with medication, the side effects of chemotherapy to drive tumors into remission can be extremely difficult to deal with. Personal independence and quality and length of life can be curtailed by illness or amnesia.

The condition has an unexpected, beneficial side effect-- total immunity from Flood infection. Boren's Syndrome alters the neural synapses of its victims in a way that makes them too unstable for an Infection Form to manipulate or control. Any attempt by an Infection form to latch onto the central nervous system of such a host would in effect receive a "dead signal," much as a computer with a damaged Internet connection could not be hacked into, although internally it may be functional.