Mushroom Foraging Warning from the Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the spookiest parts about this Halloween season has been the number of people being hospitalized after ingesting wild mushrooms. The recommendation from the Philadelphia regional Poison Control Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP): Enjoy time exploring the outdoors, but unless you have an experienced mycologist (a mushroom expert with a scientific background in mushroom identification) to declare a wild mushroom safe to eat, do not eat any you may find.

In the past month, eleven cases of wild mushroom poisoning due to foraging have been reported to the Poison Control Center. Seven of these cases led to hospitalizations, including three patients who were admitted to intensive care, including one who needed a life-saving organ transplant due to exposure.

It's easy to underestimate how difficult it is to correctly identify a poisonous mushroom. Many poisonous wild mushrooms look almost the same as wild mushrooms that are edible or the cultivated mushrooms we buy at the grocery store and eat in our homes. In fact, sometimes they look so similar that even experienced foragers who are not experts are at risk of misidentifying a mushroom. Toxicologists are taught the old adage, "There are old mushroom pickers, and bold mushroom pickers, but NO old, bold mushroom pickers!"

Additional key facts to remember about wild mushrooms: 

• Symptoms from eating poisonous mushrooms may not appear for several hours to days after eating them.
• Cooking many wild mushrooms – especially those that may cause critical illness like liver failure – does not make them safe to eat.
• Your eyes can play tricks on you: differences in soil and climate can also make mushrooms that are highly toxic here look very similar to those that are perfectly safe to eat in other parts of the world. This is especially important for immigrants who might find wild mushrooms in the U.S. that look like edible mushrooms found in their country of origin, but are very poisonous.
• If a person has picked a wild mushroom and decides to eat it, they should take a picture of it before they eat it, including the top and bottom of the cap, the stem, and the base of the mushroom. If symptoms develop in the hours to days after eating, it is crucial to seek urgent medical care, and to bring the pictures to help identify the mushroom and guide appropriate treatment.

If you think that you or someone you know has eaten a wild mushroom, call the Poison Control Center right away at 1-800-222-1222. This number will put you into contact with nurses, pharmacists, and doctors who are trained to recognize all types of poisonings. They will provide you and your family with expert, compassionate, and judgment-free care.

Contact: Joey McCool Ryan 
(267) 258-6735 
[email protected] 

SOURCE Children's Hospital of Philadelphia