Six to hospital after eating poisonous mushroom

Six to hospital after eating poisonous mushroom
full screen The mushroom eaters may have confused the poisonous panther fly mushroom with the proud mountain pine (pictured). Archive image. Photo: Hasse Holmberg/TT

Six people had to be taken to hospital after a family dinner where they may have eaten poisonous panther fly mushrooms, reports Dagens Nyheter.

An ambulance was called on the night between Friday and Saturday to an address in the Stockholm area for a suspected cardiac arrest in an adult man. But there were also five children at the address who were unwell. They were taken to different hospitals, and the man was in intensive care for a day before being admitted to a regular ward. The children have been allowed to leave the hospitals, while the man is still receiving treatment.

The poison information centre’s hypothesis, after seeing somewhat unclear pictures, is that the victims thought they had eaten proud mountain pine but in fact ingested panther fly mushroom. It is poisonous but not fatal.

According to DN, each year 150–200 people are treated in hospital after mushroom poisoning. But only one to two people get so bad that intensive care is required.

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