6 people killed due to ‘death cap’ mushrooms: Health officials

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 6, 2020

The poisonous mushrooms, which recently killed at least 6 people in a remote village along the Indo-Bangladesh border in West Jaintia Hills District, have been identified as “Amanita phalloides” also commonly known as the death cap.

“The wild mushroom has been identified as Amanita phalloides and is hepatotoxic as it directly affects the liver,” Director of Health Services (MI) Dr Aman War said on Wednesday.

A total of 6 people have died including a 14-year-old girl, who succumbed at a hospital in the state capital on Monday night, after consuming the poisonous wild mushrooms.

At least 18 persons from three families were affected in the food poisoning incident which took place at Lamin village under Amlarem civil sub-division.

The members of the three families had consumed the toxic mushrooms, which were collected from a nearby forest.

Asked, Dr War said after investigation, it has been established that the cause of death was due to the poisonous mushrooms.

“The symptoms after consuming the poisonous fungus include vomiting, headache and unconsciousness,” he added.

On the chances of survival, the doctor said, “Most of the victims including a pregnant woman have already recovered and gone home. Therefore, people can survive as it depends on the amount of poison that you consumed. Only one person was unaffected may be he did not consumed much.”

He further informed that three are still undergoing treatment and are recovering of which two are in the North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) and one in Woodland Hospital.

To a query, the DHS said that the villagers had claimed that they used to consume the particular wild mushrooms but that the incident could be because the fungus must have been poisoned by snakes.

“However, this is absolutely not the case because snake’s poison will only affect a person, if he/she has been beaten,” he added.

Whether the department is contemplating to create awareness on the matter to prevent such tragic incident in the future, the DHS however said it is upto the horticulture department to take up measures to create awareness on wild mushrooms. According to him, the health department can only appeal to the citizens especially those in the rural areas to refrain from eating wild mushrooms, which may pose serious health problems.