A Climate Change Threat You Wouldn't Expect: Death by Mushroom Poisoning

"The fact of the matter is, the ones that add a nice earthiness to a pasta cream sauce look entirely too similar to the ones that leave you curled up and dying in agony for me to trust any forager's eye test, a point driven home by California's ongoing epidemic/outbreak of mushroom poisoning cases, which in less than two months has left three dozen people sickened and resulted in multiple fatalities."

"The mushrooms in question are of the toxic death cap ( Amanita phalloides) variety, which the true crime junkies in the house will no doubt immediately perk up and recognize as the same family of mushrooms infamously used in a triple murder by a woman in Victoria, Australia in 2023. In that case, the now-convicted woman had put a truly theatrical level of art into her murder method, serving her guests homemade beef wellingtons containing the mushrooms."

"In California, meanwhile, the poisonings all appear to be accidental to date, the result of foragers mistaking the generally benign-looking death cap or western destroying angel mushrooms for more common and palatable species before cooking with them ... which does nothing to destroy the poison, by the way. Now can you see why declining foraged mushrooms from a friend might be a good idea?"

Foraged edible-looking mushrooms can closely resemble toxic species, creating serious poisoning risks. Death cap (Amanita phalloides) and western destroying angel mushrooms are especially dangerous because their toxins attack the liver and are not destroyed by cooking. California has seen an outbreak since mid-November with at least 35 people sickened, three deaths, and three survivors requiring liver transplants. Some incidents have been accidental misidentifications, while one 2023 case in Victoria, Australia involved deliberate poisoning using death caps in beef wellingtons. Climate change is contributing to increased presence and risk of toxic mushrooms. Declining foraged mushrooms from acquaintances reduces exposure risk.

Read at Jezebel