Near Chernihiv, four children were poisoned by mushrooms: how to avoid tragedy - expert

We associate quiet hunting with autumn. But in the spring there are mushrooms too. For example, only in April and May you can pick up delicious morels, which are called "second after truffles". Complicating matters is the fact that lines appear along with the morels. They are conditionally edible mushrooms and can be dangerous due to improper handling. Apparently, it was they who caused the tragedy in the Chernihiv region. There, a mother fed her four young children with mushroom soup. The smallest of them is 8 months old, the oldest girl is 7 years old. Now two children are in a very serious condition. The baby is connected to a ventilator. One girl has a hepatic coma. The other two children feel more or less normal. As stated in the Chernihiv regional prosecutor, a criminal case has been opened against the would-be mother - on the fact of malicious failure to fulfill the duties of caring for children.

We asked an expert - Alexandra Urina, head of the resuscitation department of the Center for Children's Toxicology "OKHMATDET" - comment on this situation. How to avoid tragedy? How not to get poisoned by mushrooms? Is it possible to somehow check at home if a poisonous mushroom has fallen into the basket? What if a person is still poisoned by mushrooms?

Edible and conditionally edible mushrooms

The mushroom "elite" includes edible mushrooms: porcini, boletus, Polish. But all sorts of pigs, greenfinches, morels and lines are conditionally edible mushroom "rabble". And it is because of such mushrooms that people most often end up in hospital beds after a mushroom feast.

 “In Western Ukraine, where only porcini and Polish mushrooms are taken, there are practically no cases of poisoning mushrooms, unlike the rest of Ukraine, where they like to collect assorted mushrooms, - says Alexander Urin. However, the danger awaits those who only hunt edible mushrooms. Many of them have poisonous counterparts. “For example, it is easy to confuse young russula with a pale toadstool,” Aleksandr Urin gives an example. "In 95% of those who poison themselves with it, they hunted just russula." Therefore, the main rule of the mushroom picker is not sure about the mushroom, do not take it.

But remember that even edible mushrooms can be dangerous. If, for example, they were collected in the wrong place. “We had guys who picked mushrooms in a forest plantation near the field and came to us with heavy metal poisoning,” says the toxicologist. - After all, fields with whatever "chemistry" are not processed, and mushrooms, like a sponge, draw in everything. If, for example, a white mushroom grows near the corpse of an animal, it will absorb the toxins it secretes and turn into a biological weapon. " So all mushrooms can be called conditionally edible ", and a quiet hunt can be compared to Russian roulette: you never know which mushroom will" shoot "- it will be stuffed to the eyeballs with poisons. Therefore, it is better not to give mushrooms to children. If an adult organism can still cope with the mushroom poison, then it is much more difficult for a child to do it. In addition, you need to remember that mushrooms are a fairly heavy product. And children still don't have enough enzymes to digest them. The body is ready to digest mushrooms from about 14 years old.

Experienced mushroom pickers often make mistakes in mushrooms.

Experienced mushroom pickers can grin, they say, only "green" hunters can not distinguish an edible mushroom from an inedible one. To which our expert retorts: "There was not a single person who was in our department, poisoned by mushrooms, and who would not tell that he was an experienced mushroom picker." This belief in one's own experience is the scourge of lovers of quiet hunting. Many of them do not doubt their professionalism so much that they turn a blind eye to the frank signs of fate.

“Once the whole family got to the department. The hostess peeled the mushrooms, boiled them, and with this broth prepared food for the calf. He died that evening, and no one suspected that it was due to mushroom poison. The next morning the whole family ate mushrooms for breakfast and ended up in a hospital bed. "

How to check mushrooms at home

The situation is aggravated by folk mythology. “I have heard from patients more than once:“ If I could have eaten the liver of a black hare, I would not have gotten to you, ”says Alexander Urin. - People believe that since these hares can eat poisonous mushrooms, the hare's liver in some magical way will help them "digest" the mushroom poisons. Or another myth: cut the mushroom obliquely and lick the leg. Like, in poisonous mushrooms, it will be sour or bitter. Not only is it impossible to define anything, it can be poisoned. For example, if you lick a pale toadstool, it will be enough to get serious complications from poisoning. "

First aid: what to do if poisoned by mushrooms

If you ate mushrooms and after that vomiting, loose stools appeared within 24 hours, call an ambulance! Don't waste your time before the doctor arrives. Empty the stomach and intestines of food containing poison. To do this, drink as much boiled water with soda as possible (1 tsp. l. soda for 0.5 liters of water). This procedure must be repeated several times. Do not throw away the remnants of uneaten mushrooms and their cleaning. Give them to doctors for laboratory research - it will be easier to prescribe the correct treatment, because each of the mushrooms has its own antidote.