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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA<br />
poisoning should ever be regarded lightly and medical assistance should be<br />
sought at once.<br />
The following summary of mushroom poisoning is mainly taken from<br />
the account by Pilat (1954) who considered that there are at least seven dif-<br />
ferent types of mushroom poisoning.<br />
Unquestionably the most dangerous type of poisoning is caused by mushrooms<br />
in the Amanita phalloides group. A. phalloides itself is a greenish oUve<br />
species with radiating blackish fibrils on the pileus. It apparently does not<br />
occur in Canada, but our white A. virosa is equally deadly. Ramsbottom (1953)<br />
estimated that 90 per cent of the recorded deaths from fungus poisoning have<br />
been caused by species of this group. The folly of the superstition that a mushroom<br />
that peels is safe is well illustrated here because these Amanita species<br />
peel readily. The mushrooms of the A. phalloides group are so deadly that<br />
even small amounts may prove fatal. The danger is increased by the fact that<br />
there is apparently no unpleasant taste and no symptoms are manifested until<br />
8 to 12 hours, or sometimes even longer, after the mushrooms are eaten. By<br />
this time the poison has been absorbed into the blood stream and the usual<br />
procedures such as pumping out the stomach are of no avail.<br />
The general symptoms of this type of poisoning are severe abdominal<br />
pains, vomiting, cold sweats, diarrhea and excessive thirst. After persisting for<br />
some time the symptoms usually subside for a while and then recur more<br />
intensely; the liver is affected as well as the nervous system. There may be<br />
delirium, deep coma, and finally death. The patient suffers great pain.<br />
Early investigations on the nature of the poison showed that there were at<br />
least two poisonous substances in A. phalloides. One of these was destroyed by<br />
heat but the other was not, and this latter was responsible for most of the<br />
poisoning cases. It was called amanita toxin and later study has shown that<br />
this is a complex of three substances, a;-amanitine, /?-amanitine, and phalloi-<br />
dine. All of these are very poisonous.<br />
Although in cases of poisoning by this group of mushrooms the percent-<br />
age of fatahties is very high, three methods of treatment have been used with<br />
some apparent success.<br />
A serum has been produced at the Institut Pasteur in Paris by immunizing<br />
horses and it is said to give good results if injected hypodermically or intra-<br />
venously and used early. However because of the rare and sporadic occurrence<br />
of this type of poisoning, supplies of fresh serum are not readily available.<br />
The second method is to give injections of glucose in normal saline. This<br />
treatment is based on the fact that in Amanita poisoning there is a pronounced<br />
lowering of blood sugar with consequent damage to the liver and kidneys and<br />
the injections may help to restore the amount of sugar and modify the effects<br />
of the poison. Normal saline alone has also been used. It is better to give these<br />
hypodermically than by mouth because vomiting is usually associated with<br />
this type of poisoning.<br />
The third method sounds fantastic but some success has been claimed for<br />
it. It is based on the idea that the gastric juices of a rabbit will neutralize the<br />
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