Mother, Son Survive Brush With ‘Death Cap’ Mushrooms Thanks to Experimental New Drug

according to UMass Kai Cheng, 27, of Memorial Medical Center and his mother, Kam Luk, 63, were poisoned by eating a mushroom known as “death cap” that they found growing near their home in Amherst, Massachusetts, a few weeks ago. it was done.

Two survived, and one of the doctors recently boston globe That was thanks to the help of the experimental drug Regalon, which was flown in from Philadelphia. extract Milk thistle plant. However, Kam needed a liver transplant and the two also suffered kidney damage.

“Treatment included providing a currently investigational antidote with special clearance from the FDA and having that antidote urgently cured from Philadelphia,” said UMass Memorial Medical Center. said Dr. Stephanie Carreiro of the Department of Toxicology in the press. meeting. “We tried many methods to remove toxins from their bodies. And finally, Kam also needed a liver transplant.”

Death cap known among geeks Amanitais a mushroom that grows widely in California and most parts of the world.according to Redwood Shore Mushrooms According to Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz, mushrooms are all white from top to bottom, and although they generally grow on wood chips, they are found more or less everywhere in North America. The fatality rate for consuming death caps is 25-50%, depending on the source.

Deathcap and several other particularly prolific and poisonous mushrooms cause deaths in people who consume them each year, mainly because symptoms do not appear immediately after ingestion. It’s often too late, and liver damage has already begun.

“This should be a very big lesson,” Kai Cheng said at a press conference. “Be careful with what you find in the woods, especially mushrooms.”

Levon Durr, owner of Fungaia Farms mushroom farming business in Eureka, California, said: high times As of this year, deathcaps have actually been documented in places that have yet to be discovered, which could indicate that climate change, so to speak, will allow them to gain more ground.

“Amanita (death cap) was officially documented in Humboldt County last year and seems to have moved north over the past decade. They have been recorded in the Bay Area for years, then became more common in Mendocino County, and now Humboldt. Unfortunately, it is hypothesized that we will see more poisoning as we expand our habitat into areas where people are less accustomed to deathcaps. ”

Mushroom foraging season is approaching, and despite the harshest warnings I can think of, it’s inevitable that people go out each year and mistake one for another. The house has warned the entire community for decades that identifying the right mushroom is very difficult and requires far more extensive research than simple photographic comparisons. One of the most commonly hunted psychedelic mushrooms known as “wave cap” (Psilocybe cyanescens) has a deadly look-alike called Galerina Marnata In many cases, it is virtually impossible to tell them apart without proper training.

“When gathering wild mushrooms for food, one rule takes precedence over the other. If in doubt, throw it awayIf you are unsure if mushrooms are edible, do not. ” – an excerpt from Redwood Shore Mushrooms.