Three people including a mother and her son have reportedly been poisoned after eating a death cap mushroom in Jersey.
They were rushed to hospital on September 15 after accidentally eating the mushroom, which they had believed to be edible, the BBC reports.
At least one of them was understood to remain in hospital on Wednesday, 10 days later.
The Government of Jersey has since issued a notice to people foraging on the Channel Island, warning that while wild mushrooms are “plentiful” in the autumn they are “easy to misidentify, and some are very poisonous”.
“If you are picking mushrooms from the wild, it’s important to make sure you know exactly what type you are gathering,” it said. “Never eat wild mushrooms if you are not completely certain of their identification.”
In 2003 a woman in her 40s fell seriously ill and needed specialist kidney treatment at King’s College Hospital in London after eating what was later believed to be a death cap mushroom picked in Jersey.
The death cap - or Amanita phalloides - is common in most parts of the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe and as its name suggests, it is deadly to humans.
Islanders are encouraged to stay safe if foraging this autumn.
— Government of Jersey (@GovJersey) September 21, 2024
Mushrooms are a popular foraging ingredient, however, some species are poisonous.
If someone has become unwell after foraging, contact the Emergency Department on 442264.
Advice at: https://t.co/oqGIcRGV1r pic.twitter.com/plgQTSSK9I
The Woodland Trust describes it as “the world’s most deadly fungus”.
“Death caps contain the poison amanitin and are responsible for 90 per cent of deaths by fungus, with half a cap or even less enough to kill a person,” it says.
Thousands of people have died after mistaking death caps for edible mushroom species, which is particularly easy when they are at the young ‘button’ stage.
The Woodland Trust says the mushrooms have also been used as a murder weapon “for millenia”, with the Romans and ancient Greeks recognising them as a deadly poison.
In Australia, a woman was recently charged with multiple murders after allegedly serving death cap mushrooms at a dinner which left three people dead.
Erin Patterson, 49, in May pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and five charges of attempted murder, following the poisonings that happened last July.
She is accused of killing her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail Patterson's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.
All three died in a hospital days after consuming a meal at Patterson's home.
Death caps have been known to thrive, along with many other types of mushroom, following particularly wet summers such as the one seen this year.
Jersey Police have been approached by the Standard.
