“ The unique case of a 26-year-old man with end-stage human immunodeficiency virus infection and a low CD4 T-cell count provides an illustration. The patient, Dr. Rinaldi recounted, unknowingly inhaled spores from the wild mushrooms he had gathered and prepared for a meal. Several weeks later, the patient presented, complaining of itchiness and a fissure in the roof of his mouth. His physician discovered the head of a mushroom literally growing inside the patient’s head. The mushroom protruded down through the fissure from the sinus cavity. Culture confirmed it was the same type of fungus—Schizophyllum commune—that the patient had prepared for the meal.
