Another Canberra resident has fallen ill from death cap mushroom poisoning.
An ACT Health spokeswoman confirmed the fourth case which is unrelated to three others reported last week.
Three members of the same household consumed the fungi last week and were recovering in hospitals in Canberra and Sydney.
ACT Health urged people not to pick and eat wild mushrooms.
ACT Health has been working closely with Woolworths and ACT Policing to investigate three cases of Death Cap mushroom poisoning that occurred in the ACT.
“We’d like to acknowledge the swift a
ction taken by Woolworths in response to the initial information about the source of the mushrooms,” ACT Chief Health Officer, Dr Paul Kelly said.
“Investigations by ACT Policing in the last 24 hours have found no evidence that the Death Cap mushrooms consumed by the patients were purchased from Woolworths in Dickson.
“Our investigations are still ongoing as to the source of the Death Cap mushrooms, however this remains an isolated incident and there have been no other recent reports of Death Cap mushroom poisoning in the ACT.
“Two of the patients remain in a stable condition in ACT hospitals and one patient is currently receiving care at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney. ACT Health is seeking co-operation in respecting the privacy of these patients during this time,” Dr Kelly concluded.
People are reminded not to pick and eat any wild mushrooms. It can be extremely difficult for even experienced collectors to distinguish Death Cap mushrooms from other edible mushrooms.
Further information on Death Cap mushrooms is available via: http://www.health.act.gov.au/publications/fact-sheets/death-cap-mushrooms
Canberra residents who may be feeling ill after consuming mushrooms bought from a Woolworths supermarket are being advised to seek immediate medical attention following a possible Death Cap mushroom poisoning.
ACT Health is investigating after three patients from the same household attended Canberra’s Calvary Hospital in the last 48 hours with poisoning symptoms.
They claim to have been affected by mushrooms purchased from a Woolworths in the suburb of Dickson on April 17.
“This appears to be an isolated incident and there have been no other recent reports of Death Cap mushroom poisoning in the ACT,” the territory’s chief health officer Dr Paul Kelly said.
A Melbourne woman is critically ill after eating a toxic death cap mushroom.
Six months after a similar outbreak in a Canberra restaurant killed two and sickened one, Australian health authorities are again warning people not to pick their own mushrooms as recent weather (1).jpeg)
conditions have created the ideal environment for the poisonous fungi.
Austin Hospital emergency department director Dr Fergus Kerr said death cap mushroom poisoning is particularly hard to detect as the more severe symptoms may not appear until a day or two after ingestion.
He said poisoning by death cap mushrooms had a mortality rate of about 50 per cent and urged people to only eat commercially farmed mushrooms.