Yellow skin, lost 4-5kg after eating strange mushroom shaped like an umbrella

The first patient is a 37-year-old man from Lam Binh (Tuyen Quang province). About 9 days before being admitted to Bach Mai Hospital, the patient and 3 others went to clear trees in the forest and found mushrooms so they picked them to cook soup. After about 8-9 hours (from 8pm to about 4-5am the next day), the patient and 2 others developed symptoms of abdominal pain, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and frequent loose stools.

These three people were taken to the local hospital for treatment by their families. The other two people were less seriously ill and were discharged. The male patient, who had jaundice, yellow eyes, and felt very tired, was transferred to the Poison Control Center - Bach Mai Hospital for further treatment.

Patient got jaundice after eating wild mushrooms

At the Poison Control Center, the patient was conscious, had confused speech, showed signs of pre-hepatic coma, yellow skin and sclera, poor appetite, and tests showed severe liver damage, severe liver failure, and kidney failure. The patient still had nausea and abdominal pain.

After emergency treatment, resuscitation, blood filtration, plasma exchange, and antidote, the patient regained consciousness. The patient said that he often picked mushrooms to eat when clearing trees in the forest, but had never encountered a similar situation. This time, after eating a type of mushroom that grows underground, shaped like an umbrella, about 15-20 cm high, with a stem as big as a finger, and white in color, the above poisoning symptoms appeared. He still has a poor appetite, has lost about 4-5 kg ​​in just 9 days.

Nausea, diarrhea dozens of times after eating strange mushrooms

A 57-year-old woman from Ngan Son (Bac Kan) went into the forest and picked a handful of white mushrooms, then brought them home to cook soup and eat them alone. About 13 hours after eating (from 8:00 p.m. the previous day to 9:00 a.m. the next day), she vomited with abdominal pain and had loose stools many times.

Poison Control Center doctor checks patient's jaundice

The patient was taken to a local hospital for treatment by his family. There, he was diagnosed with mushroom poisoning and was given an IV and then transferred to Bach Mai Hospital.

At Bach Mai Hospital, the patient was conscious, still nauseous, had abdominal pain around the navel, and had 8-10 loose stools. Tests also showed that the patient had very severe hepatitis, acute liver failure, and also required emergency treatment with antidotes and plasma exchange.

According to the female patient, the type of mushroom she picked herself was white, shaped like an umbrella, as long as a finger, with a slightly round head. The patient also had the habit of regularly picking different types of mushrooms from the forest to eat, but had never encountered a similar situation.

Be careful with mushrooms to avoid poisoning

Dr. Nguyen Tien Dat, Poison Control Center, said that the results of the patients' blood tests showed many abnormal indicators, exceeding the threshold, many times higher than normal people. Currently, the patients have liver and kidney failure, and must undergo dialysis to support the liver and use detoxifying drugs.

Previously, on March 6, 2025, the Poison Control Center also received a couple in Thanh Hoa who were poisoned by eating mushrooms picked in the forest. However, these two patients could not survive due to severe multiple organ failure.

Referring to this issue, Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, Director of the Poison Control Center, Bach Mai Hospital, warned: Natural mushrooms are difficult to identify with the naked eye as poisonous or not, except for wood ear mushrooms. People cannot identify them themselves, even experts can make mistakes. There are thousands of types of mushrooms, the number of poisonous mushrooms is not too much but it is very easy to confuse. For example, some mushrooms look very beautiful but contain toxins such as amatoxin, causing many patients to die when eating these mushrooms.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, the cause of all mushroom poisoning cases is due to people picking wild mushrooms and picking poisonous mushrooms to eat.

Each type of poisonous mushroom has its own signs when eaten. Poisonous mushrooms are currently divided into two groups, the group of mushrooms that cause early poisoning and the group of mushrooms that cause late poisoning.

The group of mushrooms that cause early poisoning has symptoms of poisoning appearing within 6 hours after eating, the appearance of the mushrooms is less eye-catching, less attractive, even looks brightly colored, causing symptoms of vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, often with neurological and psychiatric symptoms, possibly with cardiovascular symptoms. However, with the group of mushrooms that cause early poisoning, as long as people go to a medical facility for emergency treatment in time, most will not die.

As for the group of mushrooms that cause late poisoning, these mushrooms are white, clean, and look very delicious. They are white poisonous mushrooms (Amanita verna) or white poisonous cone mushrooms (Amanita virosa). Symptoms of poisoning appear more than 6 hours after eating, with symptoms in 3 stages. Stage 1 is abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea that appear late, lasting about 1 day. Stage 2 is quiet with abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea that improves, and can end within 1 day. Stage 3 is hepatitis, liver failure, kidney failure, multiple organ damage/failure, and death. The danger of mushrooms that cause late poisoning is that they look attractive, and the poisoning appears late, so when discovered, the poison has been absorbed into the body, and the poisoning of the liver is very severe, massive, and even affects many other organs. The mortality rate is very high, up to 50%, even when emergency, resuscitation, and active detoxification measures are applied. In stage 2 of the disease, with quiet symptoms but in reality the liver is being silently damaged, patients and doctors who are inexperienced may discharge the patient early, only to return to the hospital soon after because the condition worsens.

The Poison Control Center recommends that spring is the time when the North and Central regions experience rain and humidity again, and mushrooms grow, including many poisonous mushrooms. People should not pick wild mushrooms to eat, except perhaps wood ear mushrooms. Authorities, governments, groups, organizations and individuals need to increase propaganda and share the above safety information with the people to avoid unfortunate cases of poisoning and death.

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/nhan-dien-loai-nam-khien-2-nguoi-an-phai-cap-cuu-tai-benh-vien-bach-mai-post542540.html