Galery

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The medical authorities in Greece inform of an outbreak of mushroom poisoning cases. Over the past month, it has affected 42 people, two of whom, namely a 43-year-old woman from Halkidiki and a 63-year-old monk from Mount Athos, died due to consumption of poisonous mushrooms.
     As announced by Director of AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki Yiannis Bishiniotis, the monk was admitted to hospital with acute liver failure due to mushroom poisoning. The unlucky ascetic who had gathered the mushrooms himself died this morning. Last week, a 43-year-old woman from Halkidiki died in another hospital in Thessaloniki whereas her husband was saved.
     Currently a two-and-a-half-year-old girl is in "Ipokratio" intensive care, also in Thessaloniki, with severe liver failure due to mushroom poisoning. The doctors are even ready to transplant the liver to save the child's life. Ioannis Bishiniotis also announced that four Bulgarian workers are in the AHEPA hospital too, undergoing treatment for mushroom poisoning, but their condition is stable.

     "Every year we have between 80 and 120 cases of mushroom poisoning, especially in spring and autumn. However, now the situation is more serious, since we have had 42 cases of mushroom poisoning over the course of one month alone," says Christina Papanicolaou, Secretary General of the Ministry of Health. Therefore, the department prohibits the consumption of all mushrooms that citizens gather themselves. Doctors warn that the poison acts within 48 hours after ingestion and that its effect is very painful. The intensity of the symptoms depends on the amount of ingested mushrooms.
     There are about 2,000 species of mushrooms in Greece, muscaria and phalloides being the two most toxic of them. The symptoms include stomach pain, vomiting, palpitation, fever, and start in the first 2-4 hours after the consumption and no later than 48 hours thereafter.