ABSTRACT

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the extensive mushroom poisoning cases applied to the Emergency Department during a month.

The age, gender, the duration of latent phase, clinical and laboratory findings of mushroom poisoning cases were investigated.

62 patients applied to the Emergency Department in total. 51.6% of who were male, 70.9% were in adult age group. When latent phase was investigated, it was seen that the symptoms in most cases (77.3%) appeared within initial 6 hours and in 17.6% of cases after 6 hours. Gastrointestinal symptoms were first existing symptoms in 87.1% cases and there was no significant difference between the age and gender groups in terms of the distribution of these symptoms (p>0.05). Nausea was found in 67.7%, vomiting in 54.8%, stomach-ache in 40.3% and diarrhea in 14.5% of patients. Neurological symptoms such as headache, dizziness and confusion were found in 17.7% of patients, sweating in 1.6% and agitation in 1.6% of patients.

Since the latent phase was shorter than 6 hours and no deaths were recorded in adult group in which no enzyme elevation was found, it could be thought that the most mushrooms in the region were not very poisonous; however, this does not indicate that wild mushrooms in this region can be safely consumed.

Keywords: Mushroom poisoning, emergency service