Three-year-old dies after eating deadly mushroom

A three-year-old boy has died after ingesting a poisonous mushroom, Island Health authority has confirmed.

The Victoria boy was reportedly foraging for mushrooms with his family in downtown Victoria on Oct. 3, when he ate what examiners suggest was an Amanita phalloides mushroom, commonly known as the “Death Cap” mushroom.

After being treated at Victoria General Hospital, the boy was airlifted to a hospital in Edmonton where he died Tuesday night.

“We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the child’s family,” said Dr. Richard Stanwick, Island Health’s Chief Medical Health Officer, in a press release. “This tragedy reinforces how important it is for recreational mushroom hunters to know the difference between a poisonous and non-poisonous mushroom.

“To an untrained eye, it’s easy to mistake a toxic mushroom for an edible one. If you aren’t sure, leave it in the ground,” he added.

On Sunday, Stanwick and a mycologist dug up all the mushrooms they could find at the site where the mushrooms were picked. Sixteen more deadly mushrooms were found, which were sent to a lab for testing.

“The specimens we harvested, probably there was enough mushrooms there to kill 12 people. That’s why we needed to mitigate the problem first hand on Sunday afternoon.”

Stanwick says the difference between poisonous and edible mushrooms can be very subtle, often sharing many visual traits to the naked eye. The Death Cap mushroom closely resembles the paddy straw mushroom, which is a popular edible mushroom that typically grows in Asia.

WATCH: Warning issued about poisonous mushrooms

0:35 Poison mushroom warning issued on Vancouver Island

The family of the boy is hoping this spurs further public education on the dangers of foraging wild mushrooms. The Island Health authority is also looking at possible signage in areas where Death Cap mushrooms have been found.

“The family is saying, ‘Please get the message out, be very, very careful,'” said Stanwick.

In September, the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and the Vancouver Mycological Society also warned recreational mushroom hunters to be cautious.

The warning followed a doubling in calls to the B.C. Drug and Poison Information Centre in July compared with other years as well as the seasonal appearance of Death Cap mushrooms, which the groups said are increasingly popping up in Vancouver and other regions around the province.

Some tips from Island Health to ensure safe mushroom foraging include:

• If you’re not sure, don’t eat it
• Only pick and eat mushrooms that are easily identifiable
• Dig up the entire mushroom to make sure
• Eat only small amounts
• Call the B.C. Drug and Poison Information Centre, or 911 in an emergency, if you think you have ingested a poisonous mushroom, and keep a sample of the mushroom for analysis

With files from the Canadian Press