November 28 (RIA Novosti) - A fourth person has died at a senior care facility in the US state of California after eating soup made with poisonous wild mushrooms, in what authorities have called an accident after the fungi was apparently hand-picked out of the facility’s backyard.
“This is an ongoing tragedy, an unfortunate accident,” said Dena Erwin, spokeswoman for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office in northern California, which identified the latest victim as 92-year-old Dorothy Hart.
California’s Department of Social Services and sheriff’s office investigators said the caretaker of the six-bed Gold Age Villa facility was not aware the mushrooms were poisonous when they were picked and used to make the soup, the Associated Press reported.
All of the victims were sickened on Nov. 8, and the caretaker was among those who fell ill after eating the soup.
Early symptoms of mushroom poisoning, which can take 12 hours or longer to develop, include vomiting and diarrhea. Later the victim will experience loss of fluids that can cause kidney and liver failure, eventually causing the person to fall into a coma, the AP reported.
According to mushroom experts the amanita species of mushrooms, which are also known as “death cap” and “death angel” varieties, found in northern California look similar to a wild edible mushroom found in Asia.
From 2009 to 2010 California recorded 1,700 cases of mushroom-related illnesses that resulted in two deaths, the AP reported.
