The season of forest mushrooms started and mushroom lovers can go to gather them. The temptation is big, but doctors recommend the people to pick only the mushrooms they know well and know that these are edible. The grownups should not allow the children to gather mushrooms. If symptoms of poisoning appear, one should immediately see a doctor.

Contacted by IPN for details, head of the Toxicology Section of the Saint Trinity Hospital Adrian Pîslaru said it is not true that if an onion or a clove of garlic put to boil together with mushrooms changes its color, the mushrooms are poisonous. “Toxins act in a different way and the non-change of color does not mean that the mushrooms are nontoxic,” stated the doctor.

It is important to pick and eat only mushrooms that are known to be comestible. The people should not purchase mushrooms, in particular forest ones, canned by private individuals. Only mushrooms grown in hothouses or canned at factories can be bought.

The mushrooms growing by the roadside should not be consumed as they can absorb noxious substances from car exhaust emissions. The mushrooms growing near waste dumps and factories are also not fit for consumption.

Among the most common symptoms of mushroom poisoning are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomachache and headache. Vision blurring, hallucinations and transpiration can also appear and can lead to fits that can result in death. Mushrooms can cause light, medium or serious poisoning. In case of poisoning with Amanita phalloides, death occurs in up to 80% of the cases.

The symptoms of mushroom poisoning can appear in two to 72 hours of the consumption. In domestic conditions, as first aid for gastric lavage, one can take 10-20 bills of activated carbon and then see a doctor.

Most of the cases of poisoning usually occur in the period between July and the start of October.