Three California residents were poisoned by deadly mushrooms that they bought from a food truck.
The patients bought the vegetable from a produce van in Salinas, a farming community in central California.
The trio, described as young and healthy, ate amanita phalloides, colloquially known as ‘death caps’ or ‘the silent assassin.’
They look similar to common edible mushrooms found in grocery stores, including button and cremini mushrooms, but consuming just 30 grams of them is enough to kill.
The poisoning occurred on New Year’s Day. It wasn’t until the following day the three individuals became severely ill, with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Dr Erica Locke, a physician at the Salinas Valley Health Emergency Department, said: ‘In that phase [of poisoning], people get profoundly dehydrated and can develop some kidney injury.
‘Then after about 24 hours of nausea, vomiting, and that cholera-like diarrhea, people start to feel a little bit better, what’s called the senescent period, where they start to recover, and that is exactly what happened to these people.’
It wasn’t until their symptoms started up again that they went to the hospital, which revealed that their livers were in the early stages of liver damage.
The death cap mushroom (pictured left and right), responsible for 90 percent of mushroom-related deaths, resembles some edible varieties, and can lead to severe liver and kidney damage
Doctors are hopeful that two individuals who remain in treatment will recover and the third, who ate less of the mushrooms, has already recovered.
Patients told doctors they had procured the mushrooms from a produce truck parked outside of a grocery store.
At the same time, the Salinas Police Department reported that they received conflicting stories from the patients, who also mentioned a hike to Fremont’s Peak where police ‘strongly believe’ they may have foraged the mushrooms themselves.
Death caps contain potent toxins that damage the liver and kidneys.
The toxins block a crucial enzyme cells need to make proteins, and without producing those proteins, cells die.
There is typically a six to 24-hour period during which no symptoms appear despite the toxin already working in the body.
After that period, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea increase, leading to dehydration.
When the body becomes dehydrated, blood flow to the kidneys and liver decreases, causing damage and potential failure.
Dr Locke said: ‘Had they come in during the first 24 hours, we would have hopefully been able to avoid some of the liver toxicity.
‘Mainly, they just need a lot of hydration support, so if we can hydrate them through this and then do some of the things that we know block the toxin from recirculating in the body, we can prevent the liver damage.’
The patients were transferred to a specialized unit at Stanford Medicine that focuses on liver health and transplantation.
Edible varieties common in recipes resemble death caps. For this reason, police and scientists discourage people from foraging for mushrooms on their own
The Salinas police turned up no leads on the truck where the three patients purchased the mushrooms, and it’s possible that other people in the area purchased them as well.
Still, a police report said there have been no further cases of illness due to mushroom poisoning in Salinas and concluded there is no threat to the general public.
Death caps, responsible for about 90 percent of deaths by mushrooms, are native to Europe but found their way to North America in the 1930s on the roots of imported trees, eventually becoming an invasive species.
They grow in many parts of the US, including California, Idaho, and Texas, as well as British Columbia in Canada.
Spotting these unassuming mushrooms can be difficult. They can grow six inches tall with a domed cap, a yellow/green or a brownish tinge, and an off-white stem. They give off no smells or obvious giveaways.
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Scientists generally discourage people from setting off on their own to forage for mushrooms because they are so easily mistaken for edible varieties.
The odds of dying after eating just a minute amount of the domed cap range from 25 to 50 percent. Speedy medical treatment is crucial to avoid lasting damage to the organs.
Because such a small portion of the mushroom can prove fatal, death caps have been used as an invisible murder weapon dating back to the ancient Romans.
Historical accounts suggest that the Roman Emperor Claudius was poisoned by his wife, who allegedly mixed the deadly fungi with Claudius’ favorite Caesar’s mushrooms, killing him around AD 54.
Another ruler, Charles VI of Austria, died in 1740 after eating what he did not know were poisonous mushrooms. French philosopher Voltaire wrote in his memoirs that ‘this plate of champignons changed the destiny of Europe.’
