Warning of the risk of death from eating strange mushrooms

Seeing mushrooms growing around the house that looked like white mushrooms at the market, the woman picked them to cook soup, then the whole family had to be hospitalized in a "near-death" situation. Spring is the time in the North and Central regions when it is humid and rainy, mushrooms grow, many of which are poisonous. Despite many warnings, many people still get poisoned after picking wild mushrooms to eat.

Báo Công an Nhân dân•14/04/2025

Since the beginning of the year, the Poison Control Center of Bach Mai Hospital has received many cases of mushroom poisoning. A typical case is a 57-year-old female patient, residing in Ngan Son district, Bac Kan province, who went into the forest and picked a handful of white mushrooms, then brought them home to cook soup to eat alone. The next morning, she had a stomachache and diarrhea many times. Her family took her to Ngan Son district hospital for treatment, was diagnosed with mushroom poisoning and transferred to Bach Mai hospital. According to the patient, the mushroom she picked was shaped like an umbrella, as long as a finger, with a slightly round head. Test results showed that the patient had very severe hepatitis, acute liver failure, and was treated with antidotes and plasma exchange.

Warning of the risk of death from eating strange mushrooms -0

Poisonous mushrooms the patient picked in the forest to eat.

The more serious poisoning was a 37-year-old male patient, residing in Lam Binh district, Tuyen Quang province, who suffered from jaundice and yellow eyes shortly after eating strange mushrooms. Before that, the patient and three other people went to clear trees in the forest, saw mushrooms and picked them to cook soup for dinner. The next morning, he and two others suffered from stomachaches, dizziness, vomiting and diarrhea. All three were taken to the hospital for emergency treatment, the other two were discharged, while the more serious patient was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital.

According to doctors, when admitted to the hospital, the patient showed signs of pre-hepatic coma and confused speech. Test results showed severe liver damage, severe liver failure, and kidney failure. Doctors had to filter blood, replace plasma, and provide emergency resuscitation for many days to save his life. After surviving, the male patient said that he had a habit of picking mushrooms to eat but had never experienced poisoning. This time, the male patient picked a type of white mushroom that grows underground, looks like an umbrella, is about 15-20cm high, and has a stem as big as a finger, and ate it and experienced poisoning.

According to the doctors at the Poison Control Center, unlike the two patients above, on March 6, the Center received a couple from Thanh Hoa who were poisoned by eating mushrooms picked in the forest. However, these two patients could not survive due to severe multiple organ failure.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, said that there have been many warnings about mushroom poisoning caused by people eating poisonous mushrooms picked in the forest or around their homes, but many people still do not know or are not aware of this danger.

According to the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health), compared to other types of poisoning, mushroom poisoning occurs less frequently, but the mortality rate is very high. Currently, there are over 10,000 identified mushroom species in the world, including hundreds of poisonous species. Mushrooms with caps, gills, stems, rings and basal sheaths are mostly poisonous. Some species may have toxin levels that vary seasonally, during growth, and in different soil and soil environments. Therefore, there may be cases of eating the same type of mushroom but sometimes being poisoned, sometimes not. For mushrooms that are closely related, it is often difficult to distinguish by shape and color, even for experts.

The Director of the Poison Control Center warns that the danger of mushrooms that cause late poisoning is that they look attractive, but by the time they are discovered, the poison has been absorbed into the body, causing severe, massive liver poisoning, even in many other organs. The mortality rate is up to 50% even when emergency, resuscitation, and active detoxification measures are applied.

To prevent mushroom poisoning, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen recommends that people do not pick wild mushrooms to eat, except perhaps wood ear mushrooms. Authorities, governments, groups, organizations and individuals need to increase propaganda and share safety information with people to avoid unfortunate cases of poisoning and death.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/canh-bao-nguy-co-tu-vong-do-an-nam-la-i765057/