Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Our Blog on December 2, 2024
Toxic mushrooms sicken a family of 11, including a one-year-old child. Sending the Amish family to the hospital.
This unfortunate situation emphasizes the potential risk of foraging wild mushrooms.
Local authorities say that a member of the Peach Bottom Township’s family say that a family member “found [the mushrooms] in the woods … and brought [them] home for dinner.”
It is unclear whether the family consumed wild mushrooms in the past or if this was the first time they experienced an adverse reaction from the not-so-fun-gi.
Affected family members included an adult man, an adult woman, and nine of their children. Ages ranged from one-years-old to 39, said the fire department.
The Amish family did not have a telephone at their residence, said Gregory Fantom, spokesperson for the Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company. So the family member reporting the illnesses had to walk about a half-mile to a telephone booth.
Out of dire necessity, the individual called 911 and emergency services were dispatched.
Delta Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57 reported that 7 Fire/EMS units from the surrounding counties of York, Lancaster, and Harford were dispatched to a Peach Bottom Township home just before 10 PM on October 11, 2024.
Delta Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57 posted to their Facebook page:
“Station 57 was alerted to assist multiple EMS units with a mass casualty incident. Units were advised that 11 people had ingested toxic mushrooms and were all ill. A total of 7 ALS and BLS units were dispatched from York, Lancaster, and Harford counties. 6 of them transported all 11 pediatric and adult patients to the hospital. Units cleared the scene in just over an hour.”
The family was transported among 6 EMS units to WellSpan York Hospital and treated for poisoning.
While the specific type of mushroom was not indicated, a representative from the hospital indicated it was wild mushrooms.
Patients were treated and released overnight.
While most mushrooms are commercially farmed in the United States today, foraging for mushrooms (while potentially dangerous) continues to be a recreational activity.
While there are many different mushroom species, only around 100 of them are toxic.
Unfortunately, around 6000 toxic mushroom ingestions are reported each year in the United States. Most exposures are associated with children under six years of age.
Poisoning symptoms from toxic mushrooms may vary depending on the species of mushroom ingested and the toxin it produces.
Common sickness involving “backyard mushrooms” like Chlorophyllum molybdites involve acute gastroenteritis. These symptoms usually include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, and possibly diarrhea that begins within three hours of ingesting the fungus.
Certain mushroom species like Psilocybe, Conocybe, Gymnopilus, and Panaeolus produce psilocybin and psilocin toxins. These types of mushrooms are often grown and abused for recreational purposes. However, they do grow naturally in warm, moist climates.
Euphoria and altered sensorium often begin anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours after ingestion and its effects can last between four and 12 hours, depending on the amount consumed.
Certain mushrooms species among genera Clitocybe and Inocybe. These cholinergic effects often include abdominal cramping, diaphoresis, salivation, lacrimation, bronchospasm, bronchorrhea, and bradycardia within 30 minutes of ingestion. While effects typically pass quickly, the duration of effects depends on the amount consumed.
Certain mushroom species, like Coprinus atramentarius (“inky cap”) produce toxin metabolite (coprine) that result in aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibition. Symptoms include headache, nausea, vomiting, flushing, tachycardia, and rarely hypotension.
There is a link between co-ingestion of alcohol and coprine-containing mushrooms. This co-ingestion often leads to lessened effects.
Certain amatoxin mushroom species, like Galerina, Lepiota, and Amanita can cause liver toxicity. But this process occurs in phases.
The first phase starts with gastrointestinal effects within six to 12 hours of ingestion.
After around 24 to 36 hours, symptoms may improve, but laboratory tests will likely show liver toxicity.
After 48 hours, liver damage intensifies. Liver failure begins.
Within a week, without serious intervention or liver transplantation, the patient often dies.
Members of the Cortinarius family like Amanita smithiana and others in that species produce a toxin call orellanine, a nephrotoxic agent. They can be found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
Kidney symptoms may not appear for upt to two weeks after ingestion, though acute gastroenteritis symptoms may begin within 12 to 24 hours.
Most patients will make a full recovery with appropriate care, though some patients may require hemodialysis to fully recover.
The gyromitrin toxin found in Gyromitra, Paxina, and Cyathipodia micropus species may cause seizures. Sometimes mistaken for morel mushrooms (Morchella escuculena), gyromitrin causes a GABA depletion. Hence the seizure symptoms.
The number of mushrooms and their potential toxins are too many to state here in this humble blog post. However, some of these other symptoms may include (but are not limited to) headaches, vertigo, somnolence (drowsiness), palpitations (irregular heart beat), dysrhythmias (improper beating of the heart), rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of muscle tissues), methemoglobinemia (rare blood disorder affecting oxygenation of the blood), hemolysis (destruction of red blood cells), erythromelalgia (burning pain of the extremities), dermatitis (skin inflammation), and cramping.
If you insist on foraging for mushrooms, always use caution and research everything before you take a bite.
Refer to a trusted field guide and carefully inspect features like:
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “Toxic Mushrooms Hospitalize Family of 11, Including a One-Year-Old Child,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)