Doctors warn of surge in poisonings linked to MUSHROOMS – hipster ‘foraging’ trend is said to be partly to blame

Mushroom foraging is no longer just a job for experts.

More average Joes have taken up this hobby in recent years, enjoying the fresh outdoors and even getting some exercise while mushroom hunting.

But the rise of this obscure niche has proven dangerous.

Between January and October 2023, U.S. Poison Centers have seen an 11 percent increase in mushroom poisoning reports compared to all of 2022.

A total of 7,250 of these calls were made.

Ingesting the wrong mushroom can lead to symptoms ranging from mild stomach upset and vomiting to liver failure, neurological deficits and even death.

People who have misidentified mushrooms have had to undergo organ transplants, and a child in California even suffered permanent neurological damage.

Jonathan Colvin, director of the Ohio Drug & Poison Information Center, said CNN that Ohio poison control centers received more than 260 mushroom-related calls as of October 2023.

Of the callers, 45 percent went to the emergency room and 33 people were hospitalized.

He said calls about possible poisonings have increased by 25 percent from pre-pandemic levels.

Although it is not always clear whether the poison call is linked to mushroom foraging, Mr Colvin said the people who required the most serious treatment for liver and kidney damage reported eating mushrooms they found in the wild and which they had incorrectly identified as edible.

In mushroom foraging, also known as mushroom hunting, mushroom picking and mushroom hunting, people search for and collect mushrooms from the wild.

The trend has grown in popularity and there are plenty of beginner's guides, but experts emphasize that it's important to work with an expert who can identify mushrooms that are safe to eat and mushrooms that are potentially deadly.

While technology has been developed for collectors, allowing people to take a photo on their phone, upload it to an app and identify the species, the technology is not always foolproof.

Most mushroom poisonings happen because a person or an app has determined that a mushroom species is safe to eat, when in reality it could be fatal.

There are more than 5,000 species of mushrooms. Of these, about 50 are poisonous to humans. Death cap mushrooms and similar varieties that contain the same poison are responsible for the majority of deaths from mushroom poisoning.

These are different from the common mushrooms found on supermarket shelves, including button, cremini, portobello and porcini mushrooms.

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented 14 cases of poisoning linked to death cap mushrooms.

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Dr. Kathy LeSaint, an emergency room doctor in San Francisco, wrote an article for the CDC detailing the cases.

Eleven of the patients recovered and three required liver transplants due to irreversible damage the mushrooms had done to the organ.

One of the liver recipients was a child who also suffered from permanent neurological problems.

The CDC article states, “Wild-picked mushrooms should be evaluated by a trained mycologist before ingestion. Inexperienced foragers should be strongly discouraged from eating wild mushrooms.'

Death cap mushrooms, scientifically called Amanita phalloides, belong to the Phalloideae section of the Amanita mushroom family and are responsible for the majority of deaths from ingestion of cultivated mushrooms worldwide.

Symptoms of mushroom toxicity include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps, wheezing, breathing difficulties, high blood pressure, irregular heart rhythm and hallucinations.

It can lead to liver failure, kidney failure, neurological problems and death.

The poisonous mushrooms differ from the so-called 'magic mushrooms', which contain the hallucinogen psilocybin.

Magic mushrooms occur naturally and are consumed for their psychedelic effects.

Dr. LeSaint told CNN, “We don't want to tell them not to do that (mushroom feeding), but we always encourage people to go with someone who has some expertise in identifying mushrooms.

“Mistakes can happen and the consequences can be death.”