Alarm of death due to wine and wild mushrooms
(Baonghean) - Every year in Nghe An, there are cases of poisoning due to eating and drinking alcohol soaked with naturally toxic plants, tubers and fruits. The cause of this situation is mostly due to subjectivity and lack of knowledge.
7 months, 3 cases, 17 people poisoned by mushrooms
On July 29, a poisoning case occurred in Que Phong district due to eating wild mushrooms. Ten people from Cam village, Cam Muon commune went to Khe Ton forest, Quang Phong commune to collect bo bo fruits. At noon, this group of people picked mushrooms growing near the stream to cook.
By 2 p.m., all 10 people had symptoms of nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and dizziness. The most alert person called home for help. The group was taken to the Que Phong District Medical Center for emergency treatment and by the morning of July 30, their health was stable and they were discharged from the hospital.
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| Emergency patient due to poisoning at Que Phong District Medical Center. Photo: Thanh Son |
The incident in Que Phong has raised the number of poisoning cases due to eating wild mushrooms in Nghe An province since the beginning of the year to 3, with 17 people affected. Previously, there were 2 poisoning cases on May 20, in Ta Soi village, Chau Hanh commune (Quy Chau). Mr. Lo Van Chuong's family of 6 people picked and ate a type of mushroom growing naturally in the forest. As a result, all 6 people had to be taken to the Tay Bac General Hospital for emergency treatment.
A few hours later, Mr. Lo Van Thuy, who lives near Mr. Chuong's house, was also poisoned by eating wild mushrooms... Fortunately, in all three poisoning cases, the victims were given timely emergency care and no one died.
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| It is necessary to distinguish between poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms. Photo: Thanh Son |
Compared to other types of poisoning, mushroom poisoning occurs less frequently in terms of the number of cases and the number of people infected, but the mortality rate is very high. In Nghe An province, in 2014, while cutting wood in the forest, 4 people in Tay Son commune (Ky Son) picked a strange white mushroom to eat with rice. Immediately after that, the whole group suffered severe poisoning.
The three victims, Vu Ba So, Vu Tay Bi and Vu Ba Trung, suffered from kidney failure, liver failure, and blood sugar disorders and did not survive. Vu Ba Ky was fortunate to be hospitalized in time and was treated by doctors and nurses at Nghe An General Hospital and survived.
In 2014, the Ministry of Health cooperated with Viettel Group to continuously send messages from the system warning about poisonous mushrooms. This communication method has brought about certain effectiveness when in 2015 and 2016, the number of poisoning cases due to eating wild mushrooms was recorded less. However, it still occurs sporadically. And in 2017, the situation of mushroom poisoning has flourished again in many mountainous provinces across the country.
Looking for the cause of mushroom poisoning, some victims said: “Before, I never knew that mushrooms were poisonous, so I went to the forest and picked them to eat”; “The mushrooms grew close to the house, smelled fragrant and sweet, and saw ants eating them, so I thought they weren’t poisonous. But before, people had eaten these mushrooms without any problems.”
| Doctor Hoang Quoc Son - Deputy Head of the Provincial Food Safety Department: "Propaganda work has not been effective for a long time because people often live in remote areas, have difficult lives, and have low education. Due to difficulties, they use food that is hunted and collected in the wild. People often distinguish poisonous mushrooms from edible mushrooms based on experience, but they do not understand that in the forest, good mushrooms are still mixed with poisonous mushrooms because mushroom spores drift with wind and water and remain. Besides, mushrooms are an ideal nutritional environment for many types of harmful microorganisms and bacteria to invade. On August 3, the Provincial Food Safety Department issued Official Dispatch No. 147 requesting health departments and medical centers of districts, cities, and towns to strengthen information and propaganda work on poisoning prevention, some characteristics to identify poisonous mushrooms, symptoms of mushroom poisoning; Communicate to households in all forms, in both Kinh and ethnic languages...". |
Don't drink poison
To prevent mushroom poisoning in particular and prevent poisoning caused by natural toxins in general, the health sector has long recommended that people do not pick trees, leaves, or fruits from the forest of unknown origin for use; do not eat toad meat, puffer fish, etc. However, sadly, these warnings are not heeded. For example, in early 2017, two people in Nghi Loc district died from eating toad meat. Doctor Hoang Quoc Son added: "Many people are poisoned by soaking animals and plants in alcohol to improve their health, but their effects have not been verified."
In February 2017, Nghe An province recorded a case of alcohol poisoning in Tan Ky district. 6 patients in Hung Cuong hamlet, Phu Son commune suffered from headaches, severe stomachaches, continuous diarrhea, vomiting, and limb cramps, and had to be taken to the emergency room at Tan Ky District General Hospital after drinking alcohol soaked with “Korean ginseng”.
Investigation into the cause of the poisoning revealed that the “Korean ginseng” root turned out to be the root of the Chinese clematis plant - a root very similar to ginseng, highly toxic, and if ingested, can seriously affect kidney function. Previously, on January 17, Ms. Tran Thi Ng (68 years old), residing in Da Loc hamlet, Nam Kim commune (Nam Dan) was severely poisoned and had to be hospitalized due to mistakenly eating Chinese clematis root because she thought it was ginseng.
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| It is necessary to distinguish between lingzhi and poisonous mushrooms. People are advised not to soak plants of unknown origin in alcohol. Photo: Thanh Son |
“Don’t die from medicinal wine” - that is the recommendation of Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh - Department of Nephrology - Urology - Dialysis, Provincial General Hospital of Friendship: “In folklore, there is still the concept of medicinal wine to nourish the body, strengthen tendons and bones, nourish the kidneys, strengthen yang, and produce sperm. However, there is currently no scientific work to prove this.Medicinal wines made from animals, plants, and insects are good for health. These wines may contain toxins that the user does not know about. Poisoning from medicinal wines can lead to complete anuria due to acute renal tubular necrosis and eventually kidney failure." Currently, the Department of Nephrology - Urology - Dialysis has 130 dialysis patients, of which 1/10 are related to medicinal wines.
In addition, mistakes in soaking medicinal wine are also pointed out by oriental medicine practitioners: If you soak many medicinal herbs without understanding their medicinal properties, the soaked wine can easily become toxic wine when the active ingredients combine to create toxins. There are plants, tubers, and fruits that have good effects, but if you use too much, the tonic will also become toxic. There are medicinal wines that are suitable for one person but not suitable for another person's physical condition. Many people use animals soaked in wine without knowing that animal blood is often infected with parasites and bacteria.
Doctor Bui Thanh Hai - Nghe An Province Oriental Medicine Association said: Every year there are hundreds of cases of poisoning due to soaked wine, if mild, there are symptoms of vomiting, behavioral disorders, some more severe cases are deep coma, circulatory collapse, although being cured of poisoning, they may still have serious sequelae. When people need to use medicinal wine, they should buy medicinal herbs at Oriental medicine establishments with legal status and need advice from traditional medicine practitioners. In particular, they should not use animal-soaked wine because it can easily cause allergies and poisoning./.
Thanh Son
