Man Alarmed When Doctors Discover Black Mold Growing on His Brain

The story of a Rhode Island man with a rare brain mold condition reminds us that disease is not exclusive to COVID-19.

Tyson Bottenus described his journey with Cladophialophora bantiana, an extremely rare tropical fungus that can cause a number of severe neurological problems.

70 percent of the people who had it have died, and only about 120 cases of it have ever been recorded. His doctors are shocked that he is still alive, even though he had a stroke in March 2020 and decided to go off of his steroids.

Though he's not sure where he got the mold, he's pretty sure he contracted it while biking through a particularly dusty part of Costa Rica. He had a minor crash after letting some air out of his tires to ride on the beach, a move that he believes may have changed the trajectory of his life.

After returning home to Rhode Island, an O-shaped abnormality was found on the brain. His doctors found an abscess of black mold, the cause of his issues, over the course of eight months.

Bloodborne disorders like this are rare because of the blood-brain barrier. The complicated cellular systems that make up the vessels and organs which blood circulates through usually keep harmful substances out of the brain. They do get through in rare instances. The blood-brain barrier seems to have kept some of his medication out of his brain.

It looks like the antifungals have never penetrated the blood-brain barrier, meaning you have been fighting this on your own.

The barrier that this medicine must travel through, a semipermeable wall of cells between my blood and my brain, had allowed the fungus through, but now it has been working in overdrive.

The uncertainty of not knowing whether he will live or die has been a part of the journey. His doctors assured him that if he was going to die from the fungus, he already would have a reassurance that helps him feel hope for the future but also presents its own challenges because he is one of the only people living.

I have learned what it is like to be at the forefront of scientific research.

Toxic black mold is growing in my brain.

The surgeon was stripped of his license for carving his initials into patients.

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