David Yturralde arrived at the mushroom talk in Newport Beach recently armed with a pen and paper and a host of questions. The goal, he said, was to demystify those fascinating fungi that popped up on his grass after heavy winter rain. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s long been interested in the mushrooms that sprout on the front lawn of his San Clemente home, but he\u2019s always been too timid to pick any. And there\u2019s no way he\u2019s collecting any to taste, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMushrooms are mysterious little things because right away your parents tell you, as a child, don\u2019t eat that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But after hearing about recent illnesses and fatalities related to the death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, in California, Yturralde and several others who gathered in the Environmental Nature Center\u2019s conference room sought answers about which mushrooms in the area are deadly. <\/p>\n
In the past three months, California has seen a sudden uptick<\/a> in the number of people becoming sickened and dying after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms found in the wild. While the fatalities have occurred along the Central Coast and in Northern California, the phenomenon has prompted concerns and discussions among mycological societies and amateur foragers across the Golden State. <\/p>\n The most recent death was reported on Jan. 27 by public health officials in Contra Costa County who confirmed<\/a> a 60-year-old man died after eating wild mushrooms, bringing the total number of fungi-related fatalities to four. <\/p>\n Public health officials could not identify which wild mushroom caused the man\u2019s death, said Nicola Gillette, spokesperson for Contra Costa Health. But officials said the man, who was described as being of \u201cHispanic descent,\u201d died after eating wild mushrooms foraged at a regional park in the county. <\/p>\n \u201cPreliminary information indicates the man may have mistaken the mushroom for a variety that is edible in his home country,\u201d Gillette said. <\/p>\n The California Department of Public Health reported 39 death cap-related illnesses, including four fatalities and three liver transplants, between Nov. 18 and Jan. 18.<\/p>\n In a typical year, the California Poison Control Center may receive up to five cases of poisonous mushroom-related illness, according to authorities.<\/p>\n The last major outbreak occurred in 2016 with 14 reported cases, and while there were no deaths, three people required liver transplants and one child suffered a \u201cpermanent neurologic impairment.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n In this slew of cases, the California Department of Public Health has reported that 60% of affected individuals spoke Spanish as their primary language \u2014 other affected people speak Mixteco, Mandarin Chinese, Ukrainian, Russian and English. <\/p>\n The incidents that have occurred within the Latino community this year could be an anomaly, said Mike McCurdy, president of the San Francisco Mycological Society. <\/p>\n The society has been working closely with the state public health department to create a warning sign and fliers with a QR code leading to more information in multiple languages that can be distributed in recreational areas such as parks, nature preserves and hiking trails. <\/p>\n Generally, people are accidentally poisoned after they mistakenly eat a wild mushroom they thought was safe, McCurdy said. <\/p>\n