What to Do About Wild Mushroom Poisoning? Symptoms and Identification Methods Explained
Recently there was an incident of a mother and her two daughters suffering wild mushroom poisoning, and the youngest daughter died. There are very many kinds of wild mushrooms, and many of them are toxic, so what symptoms of wild mushroom poisoning are there? What should you do if you get poisoned by eating wild mushrooms? How can you identify them in daily life? Which identification methods are unreliable?
On July 13, a mother and her 3 daughters in Liujiabao Village, Wuzhu Town, Huyi District, Xi'an, suffered poisoning after eating wild mushrooms they had picked themselves. At present, the 9-year-old younger sister has sadly died, and the mother and the older sister are still in the intensive care unit undergoing dialysis treatment.Wild mushroom poisoning incidents show a clear seasonal peak, mostly concentrated from May to October each year.Every time this season comes around, although experts keep issuing warnings, the frequent poisoning incidents still cannot be stopped.
Symptoms of wild mushroom poisoning
Poisoning manifestations: different toxic mushrooms contain different toxins, and the poisoning manifestations they cause also differ, but they can generally be divided into the following four categories:
1. Gastroenteritis type: patients of this type experience weakness, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and watery diarrhea 10 minutes—2 hours after eating mushrooms. Recovery is relatively quick, and the prognosis is good. Many mushrooms produce such symptoms, such as: Russula, Lactarius, Boletus, orange-red Amanita, poisonous Psilocybe, moonlight fungus, waxy cap, and Lepiota.
2. Neuro-psychiatric type: 10 minutes—6 hours after eating, in addition to gastroenteritis-type symptoms, there are also constricted pupils, increased salivation, excitement, hallucinations, staggering gait, etc.
3. Hemolytic type: incubation period 6~12 hours; besides gastroenteritis manifestations, there are also hemolytic manifestations, and anemia, enlarged liver, etc. may appear. This type of poisoning can mostly recover after treatment with adrenal cortical hormones and blood transfusion.
4. Liver disease type: gastroenteritis-type manifestations appear 10~30 hours after eating. Some patients may have a false recovery period, and then manifestations of damage to multiple organs such as the liver, brain, heart, and kidneys appear, but liver damage is the most severe. Some patients may have psychiatric symptoms. The course of disease is generally 2~3 weeks. The fatality rate is high.
5 major first-aid measures for mushroom poisoning
After accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms, symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, severe diarrhea, and abdominal pain appear after an incubation period of about 0.5-0.6 hours, and may be accompanied by excessive sweating, drooling, tearing, and pulse [changes], and/or signs such as jaundice, anemia, and bleeding tendency. A small number of patients develop delirium, respiratory depression, and even coma and shock leading to death. After poisoning, the following first-aid measures should be taken:
1. Call an ambulance for emergency treatment. Immediately dial the emergency number to call an ambulance to the scene, and keep samples of the poisonous mushrooms for reference by professionals treating the patient.
2. Induce vomiting, gastric lavage, and catharsis. To reduce the absorption of toxins, have the poisoned person drink a large amount of warm boiled water or dilute salt water, then put fingers into the throat to induce vomiting, which can be repeated many times.
3. Rehydrate. After inducing vomiting, to prevent dehydration caused by repeated vomiting, it is best to have the poisoned person drink salt water and “sugar-salt water” with edible sugar added, so as to replenish the loss of body fluids and prevent the occurrence of shock.
4. Prevent suffocation. For patients who have already fallen into a coma, do not forcibly pour water into their mouths, to prevent suffocation.
5. Cover the patient with a blanket to keep warm.
Folk methods for identifying poisonous mushrooms are unreliable!
Wild mushroom poisoning incidents occur frequently every year. Some experts explain that many people are actually not poisoned because they ate carelessly, but because they were misled by wrong methods for identifying poisonous mushrooms. Because in the eyes of experts, many of the folk methods for identifying poisonous mushrooms are mostly unreliable.
Claim one: Look at the color. Brightly colored ones are poisonous, and those that look plain are non-toxic.
This is one of the most widely circulated methods for identifying poisonous mushrooms. But there are many kinds of poisonous mushrooms, and differences between regions are enormous, so color cannot be generalized either. For example, the elm yellow mushroom, which is highly nutritious and tastes good, is a beautiful golden yellow, and the wild red mushroom, which is very popular in the Wuyishan area of Fujian, also has a bright red appearance. Conversely, plain-looking poisonous mushrooms are also very common, such as the false morel, whose appearance meets the standard of a "non-toxic mushroom," yet it is actually highly toxic; the white deadly amanita is pure white and plain in appearance, yet it is the culprit behind many deaths in recent years.
Claim two: Look at the growing location. Those growing in dark, damp, dirty places are poisonous, and those growing on clean grass or on pine and oak trees are non-toxic.
The toxins in mushrooms come from the organisms themselves, not from the influence of the external environment, and the location where they grow has no relationship with whether the mushrooms are poisonous. In fact, as macrofungi, all mushrooms do not contain chlorophyll and cannot carry out photosynthesis, so most grow in dark environments, and must be parasitic, saprophytic, or symbiotic with higher plants, while also requiring relatively high humidity. Dark, damp environments are also the main growing places for non-toxic mushrooms.
Claim three: Look at the shape. Those with a protruding cap and with an annulus and volva are poisonous; otherwise they are non-toxic.
Poisonous mushrooms do not have specific shape characteristics. According to this identification standard, although a large group of poisonous mushrooms including the white deadly amanita and the fly agaric can be avoided, there are also many to which it does not apply. For example, the darkening russula has no volva, annulus, or scales, and its color is also very plain, yet eating it by mistake can cause hemolytic symptoms and even death. And the straw mushroom, bamboo fungus, and others that we commonly eat all have a volva, yet they are delicious and safe and harmless. Therefore, distinguishing whether mushrooms are poisonous by shape is not reliable.
Claim four: Look for traces of insect bites; poisonous mushrooms are not eaten by insects or ants.
Humans and animals have different physiological structures; one creature's arsenic may be another's honey. For example, Bacillus thuringiensis, commonly known as BT, is widely used in pest control and can cause poisoning and death in many pests, but it is harmless to humans. Yet the deadly white amanita has records of being gnawed by insects.
Claim five: Do tests. For example, rub a scallion on the mushroom cap; if the scallion changes color, it proves the mushroom is poisonous; boil it with garlic, rice, etc.; if the garlic or rice changes color, it is poisonous; drop white vinegar into the squeezed juice; if it turns red or blue, it indicates it is poisonous.
It is generally believed that, according to the harm they may cause, poisonous mushrooms can be divided into six major categories: gastrointestinal damage type, neurological damage type, allergic type, hemolytic type, respiratory obstruction type, and liver damage type. The first three categories usually have milder symptoms, while the latter three are fatal. Different types of poisonous mushrooms contain different toxins, and their detection and detoxification methods also differ greatly. One test method may be able to detect one or several types of poisonous mushrooms, but it cannot be applicable to all toxins, so relying solely on one poison test method is not safe.
Many of the above identification methods are based on summaries of life experience. We cannot say they are completely wrong, but it can be affirmed that each has its limitations. In fact, more than 400 kinds of poisonous mushrooms have already been discovered in our country, and there is still no identification method that can serve as a universal standard.
If you want to eat wild mushrooms, following the following three principles is relatively safe:
1. Whether you truly know them, and whether professionals have picked and eaten them. If the answer is yes, you can eat them.
2. When you see mushrooms you do not recognize, you can take photos before and after picking and consult experts, or directly consult local people and ask them to help judge whether they are poisonous.
3. If you neither recognize them nor can find experts or local people to confirm, then do not pick or eat them, to avoid poisoning.