Boren's Syndrome

Boren's Syndrome is a human disease caused by prolonged exposure to high-yield plasma or electromagnetic radiation, such as from a Plasma Grenade. 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 Type-51 Carbine magazine is ejected and being around Plasma Grenades and being exposed to their radiation.

Sergeant Avery Johnson supposedly has Boren's Syndrome, contracted when he used an entire crate of plasma grenades to hold off Covenant forces on Paris IV,. This story is apparently a hoax (known as the Paris/BS Spoof) used to hide that Avery Johnson could be a SPARTAN-I.

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

Long Term Effects

Untreated or unsuccessfully treated, Boren's can be fatal or debilitating. While some effects, such as migraines, can be managed with medication, the tumors involved in the disease usually, or possibly always, become malignant. Because of this, treating Boren's Syndrome invariably means treating cancer, a process that itself can be debilitating. The only way to cure Boren's syndrome, was an intensive regimen of Chemotherapy lasting for thirty weeks.

According to the hoax involving Sergeant Johnson, some combination of the disease's (apparently) multiple pathologies discourages Flood Super Cells. This would explain why Sergeant Avery Johnson could not be infected when he and his squad were ambushed by the Flood on Installation 04, leading Master Chief to his moral dilemma. Dr. Catherine Halsey guesses that there'd be a billion to one chance that Johnson's condition could be reproduced, though in actuality Johnson simply fought his way out of the flood outbreak using his training as a Spartan I.

Technically, there is no explicit proof of what about Boren's Syndrome discourages Flood. It may be possible, but unlikely since if there was a non-lethal way to prevent Flood infection then it is highly likely the Forerunner would have found it after eons of research.

Trivia

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Half-Infected Johnson, before revival to full infected.

• In Halo 3, Sergeant Johnson, through a glitch that allows him to "survive" his death at the hands of 343 Guilty Spark, is capable of being infected by the flood.
• Since Johnson is programmed to revive after being killed, stopping an infection midway will result in momentary death, suddenly changing to a marine infected model and getting up.