There is no specific treatment, be careful with the risk of mushroom poisoning

Mushroom toxins in general, when entering the blood, will disrupt the nervous system and cause damage to the liver and kidneys. Victims may die if the toxin content is high.

Chua co thuoc dieu tri dac hieu, can can trong voi nguy co ngo doc nam hinh anh 1 — Child patient PHT is being monitored at the hospital after being suspected of being poisoned by mushrooms growing on cicada pupae. (Photo: Le Xuan/VNA)

Recently, hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have continuously received cases of mushroom poisoning, including deaths.

Doctors warn that there is currently no specific treatment for mushroom poisoning, so people need to be careful when using mushrooms as food.

Last week, Ho Chi Minh City Children's Hospital 2 received two cases of children with severe mushroom poisoning. One was a 12-year-old boy named PHT (living in Dong Nai province) who had to be hospitalized after eating mushrooms grown from cicada carcasses. The boy was transferred to Children's Hospital 2 in serious condition, with impaired perception, heart rhythm disturbances, slow heartbeat, and liver and kidney damage.

After receiving intensive treatment from doctors, the baby's condition has gradually stabilized and he can be discharged in the next few days.

At the same time, Children's Hospital 2 also received NTK (10 years old) from Tay Ninh General Hospital in a very serious condition. The child was admitted to the hospital in a serious condition with multiple organ failure, kidney failure, liver failure, and neurological disorders. Family members said the child lived with his grandparents and had eaten mushroom porridge of unknown type. The child is still not out of danger, doctors are having to filter his blood and replace plasma to remove toxins in the blood, limiting further damage to internal organs.

Previously, on June 6, Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City also received three cases of people in a family including a father, mother and daughter who were poisoned by unknown mushrooms transferred from Tay Ninh province.

The whole family ate a dish of stir-fried squash and mushrooms picked from the farm. After eating, three members of the family suffered from stomachaches, vomiting, and diarrhea and were treated at the local hospital. After that, all three were transferred to a higher level hospital due to their increasingly serious condition.

During the transfer, the husband had difficulty breathing, severe respiratory failure and died at the Emergency Department of Cho Ray Hospital. The wife and daughter were admitted to the hospital for treatment but on June 12, the wife also died.

The girl is currently being treated at Cho Ray Hospital in a state of acute liver failure with blood clotting disorder.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan, Deputy Head of the Department of Tropical Diseases, Cho Ray Hospital, determining the type of mushroom and toxin that caused the death of a couple in Tay Ninh is extremely difficult because the family cannot provide the exact sample of the mushroom that the patient ate.

Meanwhile, poisonous mushrooms have many different toxins, each type of toxin affects different organs, causing hallucinations, perceptual disorders, kidney failure, digestive disorders, liver dysfunction, etc.

Mushroom poisoning can start immediately or 8-12 hours after eating poisonous mushrooms. However, sometimes mild symptoms such as stomach ache, vomiting... after eating mushrooms can be ignored, not going to the hospital, leading to a more serious condition.

Mushroom toxins in general, when entering the blood, will disrupt the nervous system and cause damage to the liver and kidneys. Victims may die if the toxin content is high.

According to doctors, currently there are no specific antidotes for almost all toxins in mushrooms.

Doctors can only use supportive measures such as mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure, and blood filtration and plasma exchange for multiple organ failure to remove toxins.

Patients who are saved from mushroom poisoning will have more or less sequelae due to previously damaged nervous system and multiple organ failure.

Doctors also warn that mushrooms often grow very quickly during the rainy season, and people in some places have the habit of harvesting wild mushrooms and processing them into food.

People should only use mushrooms of clear origin, inspected and certified by management agencies, ensuring food hygiene and safety.

In addition, absolutely do not use or process strange mushrooms or mushrooms with different colors because the risk of them being poisonous is very high.

Source