Sonoma County health officials issued an advisory Thursday warning people away from eating wild mushrooms following the weekend death of a county resident.
The county’s interim health officer Dr. Michael Stacey said early rains and a mild fall resulted in a bumper crop of wild, toxic death cap mushrooms in Northern California.
“Eating wild mushrooms gathered without expert identification can be unsafe,” Stacey said. “Some harmful varieties closely resemble edible mushrooms, even to experienced foragers.”
The advisory provides tips on how people can stay safe:
- The best way to stay safe is to not eat wild mushrooms.
- Avoid eating mushrooms picked by friends or family.
- Watch children closely when they play outside where mushrooms grow. Among pediatric mushroom poisonings, the majority occur in children under 6 years old.
- Keep pets away from wild mushrooms — animals can be poisoned too.
- Buy mushrooms only from trusted grocery stores and retailers. Take care when buying mushrooms from street vendors.
- Cooking, boiling, freezing or drying poisonous mushrooms does not make them safe to eat.
Symptoms of mushroom poisoning may not appear until six to 24 hours after eating a poisonous mushroom.
Mild symptoms — including mild nausea — can be the beginning of a more severe reaction and early symptoms can improve within a day, but serious to fatal liver damage can still develop within 2 to 3 days.
People who are poisoned should seek immediate medical help and not wait for symptoms to appear. Treatment is more difficult once symptoms start, according to health officials.