US EditionMushrooms sicken 35, kill 3 in California. Are Washington residents at risk?
- By Jan. 6, the California Department of Public Health reported 35 death cap–related illnesses, including three deaths and three liver transplants between Nov. 18 and Jan. 6.
- Heavy rain and an unusually wet December prompted death cap blooms across the Central Coast and Northern California, while foragers from Oaxaca and immigrant communities mistook them for edible mushrooms.
- Symptoms often begin 6 to 24 hours after ingestion, with severe liver damage developing within 48 to 96 hours; the California Poison Control System urges contacting poison control or 911 if exposed.
- The department cautioned people not to forage, reporting hospitalizations across Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Sonoma counties, with one person still hospitalized for liver injury.
- Craig Smollin said this season may be the largest outbreak in 26 years, with the typical annual caseload up to five cases and impacts on monolingual Spanish, Chinese, Mandarin and Mixteco speakers.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Death cap mushroom toll climbs as California officials plead for halt to foraging
All that rainy weather over the holiday season appears to have turbo-charged a deadly outbreak of mushroom poisonings across the California coast, state health officials warned Wednesday. Three people died from mid-November through early January and another three people needed liver transplants after eating toxic mushrooms, according to the California Department of Public Health. It all comes amid a massive bloom of “death cap” mushrooms, which …
Hastings Tribune
arcamax.com'Largest outbreak that we've seen in California': Death cap mushrooms linked to deaths, hospitalizations
An exceptionally wet December has contributed to an abundance of death cap mushrooms, or Amanita phalloides, on the Central Coast and Northern California, causing what officials describe as an unprecedented outbreak of severe illness and death among people who consume…
‘Largest outbreak that we’ve seen in California.’ Death cap mushrooms linked to deaths, hospitalizations
An exceptionally wet December has contributed to an abundance of death cap mushrooms, causing an unprecedented outbreak of severe illness and death among people who consume the fungi.
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 50% of the sources lean Left
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
