Wild mushrooms in season, many people are poisoned

Doctors said that now, starting in the rainy season, mushrooms grow wild, many people have a habit of picking wild mushrooms to process food, leading to poisoning and life-threatening˳

Death from the habit of eating wild mushrooms

Recently, Mr˳ CHH (43 years old, Tay Ninh) went to the forest to pick mushrooms of unknown species (similar to chicken eggs and goose eggs) and bring them home to stir-fry with melon for the whole family (including his wife and daughter) to eat together˳ Mr˳ H˳ ate about half of the mushrooms, and Mrs˳ T˳ and her daughter ate the rest˳

After eating for 8-12 hours, all three showed signs of vomiting and diarrhea, getting worse and worse, so they were given emergency treatment at a local hospital before being transferred to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City˳

During the hospital transfer, Mr˳ H˳ had difficulty breathing, had respiratory failure, was intubated, inflated, but due to his severe condition, he died at the hospital emergency department˳

Currently, the 17-year-old daughter’s health is improving, but she has to monitor her liver function and blood clotting disorder˳ The wife is still in critical condition, the liver dysfunction is getting worse, the risk is more severe, the prognosis is difficult to survive˳

On June 6, a group of six people (five men and one woman) in Phuoc Ninh commune, Duong Minh Chau district were also hospitalized in Tay Ninh province in a state of poisoning˳ This group of people went to the forest to pick mushrooms, eggs, and goose eggs˳

Among them, there is a black-gray fungus (species unknown)˳ These mushrooms are processed for family and friends to eat together˳

One day after eating, the above group of people had vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, and diarrhea many times, and were taken to the district health center for emergency˳

Previously, at the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital also received two patients in Hoa Binh province who were diagnosed with mushroom poisoning˳

According to the patient’s family, their relatives went to the forest to check the family’s cows, saw beautiful and delicious mushrooms, so they picked them to cook soup for the whole family˳ In a family of eight people who ate mushrooms together, six of them were poisoned and then one died˳

Many of the world’s most poisonous mushrooms

Dr˳ Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan – Deputy Head of Tropical Diseases Department at Cho Ray Hospital – said that now the rainy season has started, so mushrooms grow strongly, the amount of mushrooms grows quickly, this is a favorable condition for people to harvest˳ mushroom˳

Recently, the hospital has received many cases of mushroom poisoning, emerging as chicken eggs with high nutritional content, but many people mistakenly eat poisonous mushrooms˳

According to Dr˳ Ngan, each poisonous mushroom will have many different forms of toxins and affect many organ systems˳ In some cases, patients showed symptoms after eating wild mushrooms such as: disturbances of consciousness, kidney failure, liver dysfunction, etc˳ Many nutritional mushrooms have the properties of poisonous mushrooms, which we cannot distinguish˳ distinguishable by the naked eye˳

“Patients with mushroom poisoning often have to have samples of mushrooms they have eaten before, but it is very difficult to collect mushroom samples˳ Up to now, confirming the toxins of mushroom poisoning is still difficult, Therefore, doctors usually only provide supportive treatment,” said Dr˳ Ngan˳

According to Dr˳ Nguyen Trung Nguyen – director of the Anti-Poison Center of Bach Mai Hospital – typical cases of mushroom poisoning are poisoning with mushrooms containing amatoxin˳ In Vietnam, species such as white canopy mushroom (Amanita verna) and cone white poisonous mushroom (Amanita virosa) can be encountered˳

Among the poisonous mushrooms, the above types are poisonous mushrooms with a very benign, beautiful white appearance that is easy to mistake for non-nutritional mushrooms, but are the most poisonous mushrooms in the world˳

“Contrary to popular belief, poisonous mushrooms or organisms must have an ugly, colorful or threatening appearance˳ The main toxin of these fungi is amatoxin, which is extremely toxic, causing direct toxicity to humans˳ The toxin is often fatal due to toxic hepatitis that destroys liver cells, acute liver failure, leading to hepatic coma, severe cases can damage all organs,” said Dr˳ Doctor Nguyen said˳

Poisoning with poisonous mushrooms is unpredictable

According to Dr˳ Nguyen, for patients with toxic mushroom poisoning, the symptoms appear late after eating from 6-40 hours (usually 12-18 hours) in three stages˳

In the early stages, the victim has symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, continuous diarrhea like cholera, lasting 1-2 days, causing dehydration and electrolyte disturbances, pulse collapse, little urine or anuria˳ After that, the poisoning moves to the second stage with silent manifestations, complete or completely reduced digestive manifestations˳ This makes the patient and doctor misunderstand that the disease is cured, but 1-2 days later the condition may turn into a more severe stage˳

In the third stage, the victim may show signs of organ damage and failure, yellowing of the eyes, skin, loss of appetite, bloating, fatigue, deep coma, multiple hemorrhages, multiple organ failure and finally, dead˳

Dr˳ Ngan is concerned that many cases of people suffering from mushroom poisoning show gastrointestinal symptoms but are subjective that it can be cured or treated at home, which is very dangerous˳ If you find yourself with symptoms of poisoning after eating mushrooms, quickly go to the nearest medical facility for emergency and timely treatment˳

Another member of the family died of mushroom poisoning

After three days of treatment for mushroom poisoning, the wife’s prognosis changed very badly, so the family asked to take her home and she died at home˳ The son had a better prognosis, and also asked permission to leave the hospital to go home to see his mother one last time˳