In the monsoon of this year 41 patients were admitted at Tansen Mission Hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms. Among them were 19 children and 22 adults. Twelve of these patients died while undergoing treatment. They were all from the Bazaar area near the hospital.

Did we eat poisonous mushrooms or did the poisonous mushrooms eat us?

In the monsoon of this year 41 patients were admitted at Tansen Mission Hospital after eating poisonous mushrooms. Among them were 19 children and 22 adults. Twelve of these patients died while undergoing treatment. They were all from the Bazaar area near the hospital.

So the hospital was more busy than usual and unfortunately our mortality rate also increased. In spite of the great efforts of doctors and nurses six children and six adults, who had a bright future ahead of them, lost their lives. Many of these patients were related to each other and so some families lost parents, some brothers, sisters, or sons and daughters. These families are still in deep sorrow for their lost family members. The staff also grieved for this loss of life - and so we cannot say whether we ate the mushrooms or the mushrooms ate us.

A three year old child called Sandip Khadka was playing outside his neighbour’s house. The neighbour called Sandip and gave him some cooked mushrooms to eat, but his parents did not know that he had eaten anything. Later he developed diarrhoea and vomiting and only then his parents discovered the cause of his illness. Three days after admission he died. In another similar incident an eighteen year old boy called Hira Bdr Rana from a nearby village was staying in lodgings in the town. The householder gave him some cooked mushrooms and the next day he was admitted with all his landlord’s family. The following day he was due to sit a retake paper for his school leaving certificate exam. As he had not developed any symptoms yet and was only admitted for observation, he asked the doctors to let him appear in the exam. He sat the exam that day and then returned to hospital. His condition slowly deteriorated and he died five days later and so he never got the opportunity to hear his exam results.

A similar sad incident happened to a local mason’s family. There were six people in the family and their youngest daughter was away at her uncle’s house, but the rest of the family ate the poisonous mushrooms and they all died.

After the poison from the mushroom is absorbed in the body there is no effective treatment that the hospital can give apart from supportive care. The hospital spent a large amount of money on charity care for these patients, the total amount was 85,451 rupees (1,186 US $) which is great amount of money in Nepali terms. 

Why did this tragedy happen?

Mushrooms grow in the jungle during the monsoon period. Even if it is raining people take their umbrellas and go the forests to pick mushrooms. The poverty of the country has led us to go to the jungle to gather mushrooms to provide nice food for even one day. People cannot easily find out which mushroom is edible and which is not. Usually it is the women and children who go to the jungle to search for mushrooms. When we asked admitted patients some said that this was the first time they had eaten mushrooms, others said they had eaten mushrooms many times but nothing had happened before. It might be that they were lucky before and the mushrooms were not poisonous, but we do know that lack of knowledge and poverty are the cause of such incidents.

How can we distinguish between poisonous and non poisonous mushrooms?

This is a difficult question. In Nepal research work has not been done regarding seasonal mushrooms, and in villages uneducated people and small children go to the forest to look for them. They do not know if these are edible or not. Each year, after the start of the monsoon patients come to the hospital with mushroom poisoning but this year a large number of patients came for treatment. There is no specific treatment for this kind of mushroom poisoning and we can only give symptomatic treatment. That is why the hospital had to lose a lot of patients and this terrible and sad incident happened. In coming years we hope that there will not be such an unexpected tragedy and if it happens again we pray that we will be able to give more effective treatment. 

Sister Ambika Ghimire
Nursing Superintendent.