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On Wednesday evening, a girl came to the Children’s Memorial Health Institute with symptoms of severe mushroom poisoning. Her condition was critical and a liver transplant was necessary. The operation was completed this morning.
This is not the first time that a child has been poisoned with fungal toxins. Each year, several small, critically ill patients with similar symptoms are admitted to hospitals. The case of Tomek from Podkarpacie was particularly famous. In 2010, a six-year-old boy was poisoned by a toadstool. His treatment lasted almost a year and during that time he had two liver transplants.
At the moment, a four-year-old girl is fighting for her life. The baby was hospitalized on Wednesday, but it took several days to find a liver donor for her. The transplant lasted several hours tonight.
– In Poland, almost 60 people die every year due to mushroom poisoning. – It’s as if the entire bus of mushroom pickers fell into the river – says Dr. Marek Migdał from the Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care of the Children’s Health Center in Warsaw. The worst thing is that almost 1/3 of people who get mushroom poisoning are children. – Meanwhile, it is known that children are not allowed to eat any mushrooms, because they simply cannot digest them – the doctor outraged.
Mushrooms not for children
Poles, unlike, for example, Scandinavians who do not pick mushrooms, love this type of undergrowth. Unfortunately, they try to treat their children with it. – The youngest child who was admitted to the Children’s Memorial Health Institute due to mushroom poisoning was 9 months old. The parents mixed the mushroom soup and served the baby from the bottle through the nipple.
– Unfortunately, we cannot replace the liver with any device. A patient with sick kidneys can be dialyzed for many years, a patient with damaged liver for several days – explains Dr. Migdał. The liver, in addition to cleansing the body of harmful substances, also produces those necessary for its functioning. Every year, around 200 liver transplants from deceased donors are performed in Poland. Each month, the number of people waiting for a transplant is around 150.
Mushroom mite – toxins
The poison in the toadstool destroys the liver cells. Textbooks say that the consumption of just 5 dkg of the mushroom can be fatal. However, it all depends on the organism. Dr. Migdał recalls the case of a family that got poisoned by a toadstool. – Mother claimed that she did not eat mushrooms. She dipped only a slice of bread in the fat in which the toadstool was fried. Unfortunately, the poison cannot be boiled. Its decomposition temperature is 245 degrees Celsius. It retains its properties for many years, the marinated mushroom is poisonous for 10 years.
The course of toadstool poisoning
The phlegmon poisoning has a two-phase course. Diarrhea and vomiting appear in the first day. If the doctor is not informed that the patient has eaten mushrooms, he may suspect simple indigestion or, for example, rotavirus infection. Meanwhile, a few hours after consuming the mushroom, before the poison was absorbed, the patient’s stomach could be rinsed. If the vomit or poisoned feces had been examined, it would have been found that toadstool spores were there. Unfortunately, there are no blood or urine tests that could clearly indicate that the cause of the gastrointestinal complaints was toadstool.
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After vomiting and diarrhea disappear, the condition of the poisoned person seems to improve. On the third day, however, jaundice appears. The biochemical tests of the liver indicate its progressive damage. However, if the doctors do not know that the patient has eaten mushrooms, they must first rule out hepatitis A, B and C viruses. Meanwhile, the poisoned patient develops brain edema, which is manifested by excessive excitability – screaming, motor agitation, and then loss of consciousness. Death usually occurs between 4-10 days after intoxication.
Mushroom poisoning in children
Dr. Marek Migdał always gets irritated when a little patient with mushroom poisoning comes to him. – There are patients at the Center who are waiting for a liver transplant because they have birth defects or have become seriously infected, over which their parents had no influence. The suffering of a child poisoned by the fungus is the result of the irresponsibility of the parents.
The helplessness of doctors, the immediate family waiting in despair for the development of events – all this can be avoided – he emphasizes and adds that mushrooms have no nutritional value. They are not only difficult to digest, but also risk death. It is a flavor only for adults.
Text: Halina Pilonis