Mushrooms put woman in hospital
A 55-year-old woman spent three days in the emergency intensive care unit after eating mushrooms she had picked from a park, Xinhua Hospital said on Monday.
She went to the hospital on Wednesday evening after two days of vomiting and diarrhea.
Doctors treated her for gastrointestinal infection, but to no effect. Eventually the patient said her symptoms had begun after eating mushrooms she had picked from a park in Yangpu District.
The patient said her husband had had a small amount of the mushrooms and showed similar symptoms.
Doctors admitted her to its emergency intensive care unit for blood purification and toxin-cleaning treatments.
After further research and consulting botanists, the hospital concluded she had eaten a poisonous species of mushroom called Lepiota brunneoincarnata. Eating them can lead to liver and kidney failure, and damage to the central nervous system.
After three days of treatment at the EICU, including filtering the blood to remove harmful antibodies, the patient is said to be in stable condition. Her husband received similar treatment.
Doctors said people should not blindly pick and eat plants of unknown species and that anyone showing similar symptoms should seek immediate medical attention.
A woman and her husband are treated in hospital after eating Lepiota brunneoincarnata, a poisonous species of mushroom.
