WATCH: Eating just one “death cap” mushroom can kill a person. As Monica Martinez reports, Island Health is warning the public, to educate themselves before picking mushrooms.
Walking around your neighbourhood, you might be surprised at what you find.
“There’s two mushrooms here, the Amanita phalloides, the death cap mushroom,” said Dr. Brenda Callan, a mycologist with the Pacific Forestry Centre.
There are a few mushrooms that are deadly poisonous, but eating just one death cap mushroom can kill you.
And on the south island, you don’t have to forage in the forest to find them – they grow in urban areas under non-native trees.
The cap is a greenish, golden metallic colour, but it’s what’s below the ground that reveals its fatal feature.
“Here is where the veil broke away leaving this cut behind. It’s important to collect the underground parts as well as the above ground parts,” said Dr. Callan.
A few days ago, a man ate a mushroom he picked in downtown Victoria.
It was a death cap. He was hospitalized for serious poisoning and was sent to Alberta for further treatment.
Now Island Health is warning people to educate themselves.
“If you are going to do it, educate yourself because going out blindly could have catastrophic results,” said Dr. Richard Stanwick, Chief Medical Officer with Island Health.
Dr. Stanwick says symptoms form six to eight hours after ingestion and start with an upset stomach and nausea.
“Then toxins damage the liver and that is why people succumb to liver failure followed up kidney failure,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to someone who has eaten them before and they said they’re quite tasty so flavour is nothing to go on either,” Dr. Callan added.
Island Health says if are unsure of the mushroom species, don’t eat it, avoiding the death trap that is this death cap.
The post Victoria man seriously poisoned after eating death cap mushroom picked downtown appeared first on CHEK.
