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A woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease saw significant improvements in brain function after taking psilocybin-containing mushrooms.

That’s according to a case report recently published in Frontiers in Neuroscience, which focused on an elderly woman who had been living with Alzheimer’s disease for about 10 years. 

The Japanese American woman, whose name was not shared, had experienced severe functional decline for roughly five years. The Brazilian study authors described her as having advanced dementia, with very limited speech or communication, severe cognitive impairment, urinary incontinence and reduced mobility.

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She also depended on caregivers for assistance with daily living activities.

The woman received two sessions of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The first was a 5-gram oral dose, followed by a 3-gram oral dose a month later.

After the first dose, she experienced profuse sweating and hyperthermia, followed by a prolonged sleep-like state.

Approximately 19 hours later, the patient “spontaneously initiated autobiographical conversation lasting several hours,” the researchers wrote.

Over the following days and weeks, the woman experienced restored urinary continence, was able to walk independently and dress herself, and engaged in spontaneous conversation. She was also able to retrieve contextual memories, showed the ability to express emotions and maintained eye contact — smiling with others.

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After the second session, the authors reported that the woman had even greater speech capabilities, more facial expressions and humor, increased walking agility and continued continence.

Beyond the heavy sweating, hyperthermia and sleep-like state, the patient did not experience severe or persistent adverse effects, the researchers noted.

Although the reported benefits lasted for at least one month, the paper does not provide longer-term follow-up.

The authors said the findings should be interpreted with caution, as they are based on a single patient.

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The case also included no control group, standardized cognitive assessments, brain imaging biomarkers, electrophysiological monitoring or sleep studies, they noted.

The patient’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis was not confirmed with modern biomarkers, and other neurodegenerative conditions could not be completely ruled out, the study stated.

As the patient may have experienced natural fluctuations in her medical condition, the study could not establish that psilocybin directly caused the woman’s improvements.

While the study suggests that psilocybin-containing mushrooms could temporarily reactivate brain function in people with late-stage dementia, the authors noted that controlled clinical trials, cognitive assessments, imaging scans and other tests are needed to confirm the findings.

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“Much more research is needed in larger, more representative study populations before any conclusions can be drawn about psilocybin’s safety and effectiveness in people living with Alzheimer’s or any other disease that causes dementia,” Courtney Kloske, Ph.D., director of scientific engagement at the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago, told Fox News Digital.

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Kloske, who was not involved in the study, emphasized that people living with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers should talk with their doctor about all medications, vitamins, supplements and other substances they are taking.

“This helps healthcare providers understand how these products may interact with approved Alzheimer’s medications and other therapies to determine whether they could lead to unwanted side effects,” she advised.

“It might have some value in a carefully controlled setting.”

Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, said he is “dubious” of the significance of the study because the effect was described as temporary and was limited to one case.

“Also, there is a built-in danger of giving a hallucinogen to someone with this degree of mental impairment, because the behavioral effects are largely unpredictable and can be harmful,” Siegel, who also was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

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“Having said that, I am not surprised to see that psilocybin could temporarily overcome or alter the gummed-up [brain] circuitry (with plaques) of advanced Alzheimer’s disease – so it might have some value in a carefully controlled setting.”

The findings come as several states have expanded legal access to psilocybin. (The substance remains federally illegal in the U.S. as a Schedule I substance.)

Oregon began licensing psilocybin service centers in 2023, Colorado’s regulated natural medicine program became operational in 2025, and New Mexico enacted a Medical Psilocybin Act in 2025, according to state officials.

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Still, there are currently no FDA-approved psilocybin treatments for Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, and legal access remains limited to certain state-regulated programs or approved research settings.

Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.

Potentially deadly sepsis may be more likely in certain patients due to problems in the gut.

Researchers from the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology’s Infectious Disease Research Center used female mouse models to investigate why sepsis outcomes can vary so dramatically.

The study, published in the journal Nature, looked at genetically similar mice with different gut microbiomes. The mice were infected with Acinetobacter baumannii — a highly resilient bacterium that can lead to sepsis.

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The researchers compared groups of mice with higher and lower survival rates, examining differences in their gut microbiomes, the amount of bacteria in their blood and organs, and other cellular markers, according to the study press release.

Measures of risk

Although some mice were genetically similar, the more vulnerable mice had a higher concentration of Muribaculaceae bacteria in the gut. In one comparison, these bacteria made up about 28% of the microbiome in poor surviving mice, but only 0.15% in better surviving mice.

Mice with worse survival showed an early and strong inflammatory response, which later led to more bacteria in the blood, lungs and spleen. This suggests that the microbiome causes the immune system to be more reactive, according to the researchers.

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In the microbiome of mice with worse survival, the researchers also noticed that one strain of bacteria — Sangeribacter muris KT1-3 — was most prominent. The mice that typically survived at high rates fared much worse when housed with KTI-3 mice, with their survival falling to 10%.

This bacterial strain also appeared to worsen inflammation during certain infections, making sepsis more severe.

These findings suggest that the gut microbiome can signal how the immune system will react before an infection begins.

The microbiome’s surprising influence

Andrew Fleming, MD, section chief of Infectious Diseases & Immunology at NYU Langone Hospital, Brooklyn, said it has been “known for years” that gut bacteria and bacterial toxins can be released into the bloodstream during sepsis.

This worsens the inflammatory response to the initial infection, according to Fleming, who was not involved in the study.

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“This process is particularly important in septic shock, where the intestinal wall becomes more permeable to translocation (or leaking) of bacterial products,” Fleming said.

Interactions between the gut microbiome and the immune system are “complex and variable from person to person,” the doctor described.

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“But there is mounting evidence that a diverse and healthy gut microbiome – the community of bacteria that lives in a person’s gut – is protective in some ways against severe sepsis,” he went on. “And a dysregulated microbiome – for example, one severely altered by antibiotics – can impair or worsen the immune system’s response during sepsis.”

Scientists are starting to think of the gut microbiome “almost as a living organ,” according to Fleming, much like the heart, kidneys or liver, all serving “multiple functions” to keep the body healthy.

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An unhealthy microbiome can have “detrimental effects across a range of health issues,” he added – including how the body responds to infections.

“Compared to our other organs, we currently have fewer readily available tests in the doctor’s office to measure the health of our microbiome,” Fleming said. “However, this should not prevent us from thinking about our gut microbiome and how to keep it healthy.”

The role of antibiotics

The use of antibiotics has “major and long-lasting effects” on the microbiome, Fleming noted. Up to 80% of adults in the U.S. are prescribed an antibiotic every year, while 30% are estimated to be unnecessary, according to the CDC.

“Antibiotics deplete the diversity of the microbiome and create a void in the gut microbial community that can be filled by harmful bacteria from the environment,” the doctor told Fox News Digital.

“We must begin to think much more critically about our antibiotic use and overuse, both to maintain our gut health and to reduce the spread of antibiotic resistance.”

The study findings are an “intriguing starting point to further research,” Fleming said, although there were some key limitations.

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“Sangeribacter muris is not typically found in humans, so the exact mechanism of this bacterial strain worsening sepsis that is demonstrated in this study cannot be directly extrapolated to people,” he said. “Well-designed clinical trials should be conducted to explore how similar gut microbiome effects may play out in sepsis in humans.”

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Despite these limitations, the doctor said he supports the hypothesis that maintaining a healthy gut microbiome can help keep the immune system well-regulated while reducing the risk of developing severe sepsis.