An investigation of food poisoning by mistaken eating of Scleroderma cepa

Abstract

ObjectiveTo investigate Scleroderma cepa poisoning incident on September 4th 2019 in Chuxiong County, Yunnan Province, analyze the causes of the incident and summarize the clinical experience, and to provide reference for the treatment of mushroom poisoning.MethodsData collection, epidemiological investigation, morphological and phylogenetic identification were taken to analyze the poisoning event.ResultsTwo patients complained of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea with hypotension 0.5-1 h after ingesting the poisonous mushrooms, who were discharged after symptomatic treatment. The mushroom was identified as Scleroderma cepa by morphological and phylogenetic identification.ConclusionThis incident was a mushroom poisoning caused by accidental ingestion of Scleroderma cepa, which was similar to edible Scleroderma yunnanense. As most mushroom poisoning cases were resulted from the consumption of poisonous mushrooms which were very similar to edible mushrooms in morphology, it is recommended not to collect and eat wild mushrooms.

Keywords

• food poisoning
• scleroderma cepa
• poisonous mushroom
• molecular identification
• epidemiological investigation