Iranian Journal of Toxicology (Mar 2013)

Mushroom Poisoning in the Southwest Region of the Caspian Sea, Iran: A Retrospective Study

  • Alireza Badsar,
  • Morteza Rahbar Taramsari,
  • Alireza Amir Maafi,
  • Melina Rouhi Rad,
  • Gelayol Chatrnour,
  • Sina Khajeh Jahromi

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 20
pp. 798 – 803

Abstract

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Background: Mushroom poisoning as a medical emergency can be a challengingproblem for physicians. Despite the vast resources of poisonous mushrooms inIran, few studies have been done in this regard, especially in the southwest regionof the Caspian Sea that is very suitable for mushroom growth. Therefore, the aimof this study was to evaluate our experience with mushroom poisoning in thisregion.Methods: This retrospective study reviewed the records of 102 patients who wereadmitted to the Emergency Department of Razi Hospital of Rasht, the only referraldepartment in this region, from May 2006 to May 2011. Data were analyzed byChi-square test, ANOVA, and student’s t-test.Results: The patients’ age ranged from 13 to 75 years and 47 of them were maleand the rest 55 were female. Overall, 57.8% of mushroom poisoning casesoccurred in patients from urban areas. Most incidences were reported betweenSeptember and October, the rainy season in Guilan. Except for four patients withtachycardia, others had stable vital signs. The most frequent symptoms (86.4%)were nausea and vomiting. Complete blood cell count revealed that 28.4% of thepatients had leukocytosis but all of them had platelet counts of less than 100000.Conclusions: This study showed that all cases had mild to moderate symptomsthat were treated by simple supportive therapies. This suggested that mushroomspecies in our region are less dangerous but further studies need to establish whattoxins and species are responsible for mushroom toxicity.

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