California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.
The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.
“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible safe mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”
Crazy that people don’t know how to validate what they forage when there are deadly lookalikes. If you pick a yellow/white/green tinged cap with white gills, obvious attached annulus and a white volva, toss it aside, especially if you don’t know what any of that means. Foraging is fun, but there are far safer varieties that are easier to ID.
Rather, don't touch it, and if you do, wash your hands (in the woods? Come up with something that does not bruise!). These things might have so high load that even stains or spores could screw you up.
All mushrooms are safe to handle with bare hands. Sure, if you've spent the whole day groping death caps you might want to rinse off but you really don't need to wash after touching a mushroom. You actually have to ingest to be poisoned. As far as I know, spores are only harmful if the get into the lungs regularly over a prolonged period and that goes for all spores, not just ones from toxic mushrooms.
Mostly you want to wash your hands because mushrooms tend to be covered in dirt/leaves/duff.
Yeah, I can do all that but I draw the line at larvae, as dumb as that sounds. Irrational fear, but I'm getting better haha
I get ya, I've dropped several mushrooms because a surprise slug on the bottom was a little too close to my finger.