Six ill after eating mushrooms

OKLAHOMA CITY — Health officials are urging residents to destroy any wild mushrooms that pop up in their yards after five children and an adult got sick from eating the toxic plants. The children were treated at emergency rooms and the adult was hospitalized in Oklahoma City last week.

Oklahoma's unseasonably cool, wet summer has provided a perfect environment for toad stools to flourish in fields and under hardwood trees. The “amanita virosa,” a wild mushroom found in Oklahoma, is known as the “death angel,” and can cause liver or kidney damage and death, said Lee McGoodwin, managing director of the Oklahoma Poison Control Center. “Chlorophyllum molybdites” also are found in Oklahoma, said Clark Ovrebo, a University of Central Oklahoma biology professor.

Children between the ages of 1 and 5 are especially at risk. Two-year-olds “put anything in their mouths,” McGoodwin said. Forty-one Oklahomans have sought emergency care for poisonous mushrooms and 16 victims have been hospitalized this year. Telephone calls to the Oklahoma Poison Control Center about people eating toxic, wild mushrooms increased last weekend, McGoodwin said.

“After ingesting a poisonous mushroom, most people will develop nausea and vomiting within six hours,” McGoodwin said. “Other early symptoms include stomach cramps and watery or bloody diarrhea. It takes longer for symptoms to develop with some of the most poisonous mushrooms.”

All wild mushrooms must be considered unsafe to eat, officials said. “Parents must teach their children never to eat a mushroom unless it is purchased at a grocery store,” McGoodwin said. “Parents should knock down and destroy any wild mushrooms around their house or garden.”

The Poison Control Center is expecting a record number of inquiries this year about mushroom poisonings. It has received 79 calls this year, compared with 84 in 2003 and 86 in 2002. If someone suspects he or she has eaten a poisonous mushroom, the poison control center or physician should be called immediately, officials said. The rest of any mushroom that have been eaten, including the base that still may be buried in the ground, should be collected and taken to the emergency room, McGoodwin said. The Poison Control Center recommends parents keep ipecac syrup to induce vomiting and activated charcoal to absorb poisons.

http://www.oudaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/08/25/412c018e61bd6



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