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 officially has Boren's Syndrome, supposedly contracted when he used an entire crate of plasma grenades to hold off Covenant forces on Paris IV,[1] this story is apparently a hoax (known as the Paris/BS Spoof) used to hide that Avery Johnson could be a SPARTAN-I. [2]
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 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/length of life can be curtailed by illness or amnesia. The advantage it gives is immunity to Flood Super Cell.
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. Also the Flood will not manipulate a person or persons with Boren's Syndrome because the Flood only infect healthy organisms, those that do not have damage to tissue, radioactivity and so on. This explains why Sergeant Avery Johnson, could not be infected when he and his squad were ambused by the flood on Installation 04.
An infection form attempting to latch on to a host with Boren's Syndrome would receive a "dead signal". The host's nervous system would be uncontrollable for the infection form to change, rendering the host useless. Hosts that can't be infected are usually killed by the flood and used for future uses.
Sources
- ^ Halo: First Strike page 243-245
- ^ Halo: Graphic Novel - Boren's Syndrome Hoax, page 122