When every obvious test comes back negative, investigators have to look for another way to prove what caused the outbreak. So this episode takes a step sideways, from Bozeman, Montana to a small mountain village in the French Alps, where researchers faced a different kind of mystery: a cluster of ALS cases with no clear cause.
What they found there may help explain how scientists can link a mushroom to a devastating illness, even without finding a toxin.
In Episode 4 of A Morel Dilemma, we follow the investigation into Montchavin, mushrooms, environmental exposure, and the kind of epidemiologic detective work that becomes necessary when the lab tests do not give you the answer.