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A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

cleveland.com

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Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#111

Post by DangitBobby »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #102
DangitBobby wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, no, you're inventing a narrative. The guy knew the downside actually or he wouldn't have bothered to use the app to identify it. He knew the downsides, he rolled the dice, he lost. His wife knew the downsides, didn't roll the dice, and he thankfully lived maybe because of that. You also don't know that the app doesn't warn users that it shouldn't be used in life and death situations, but I'll maintain that it sho…

I think you’re misunderstanding the point here. Mushroom identification isn’t the same as bike selling or rock identification because the purpose of those isn’t to avoid danger. Almost the entire purpose is to reduce the “rolling the dice” factor in mushroom eating. In fact, that is precisely why traditional mushroom identification has such a wealth of deep knowledge, such as noticing ecological location, weather pat…

I don't think the intended purpose of the app is to tell you whether a mushroom or plant is edible or not, I think it's merely meant to identify plants, fungi, and other things for a hobbyist who's into botany and the like. I could definitely see where you're coming from if the app advertised itself as a "a great wilderness survival companion app" or something like that... But we're pretty much speculating, here. This is specific as the story gets

> he used the plant identification app

Which I think is a different category of app altogether from a fungus/plant edibility app.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#112

Post by [deleted] »

DangitBobby wrote: post #111
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re misunderstanding the point here. Mushroom identification isn’t the same as bike selling or rock identification because the purpose of those isn’t to avoid danger. Almost the entire purpose is to reduce the “rolling the dice” factor in mushroom eating. In fact, that is precisely why traditional mushroom identification has such a wealth of deep knowledge, such as noticing ecological location, weather pat…

I don't think the intended purpose of the app is to tell you whether a mushroom or plant is edible or not, I think it's merely meant to identify plants, fungi, and other things for a hobbyist who's into botany and the like. I could definitely see where you're coming from if the app advertised itself as a "a great wilderness survival companion app" or something like that... But we're pretty much speculating, here. Thi…

[deleted]

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#113

Post by notch656a »

dmitrybrant wrote: post #69

I've been foraging mushrooms for 30+ years, and I triple-check every single specimen before cooking it. The idea of a novice forager using an app to identify mushrooms is... unconscionable! Like... breathtakingly stupid. I've commented on this before, but it continues to baffle me how poorly-educated our public is about wild plants, berries, and mushrooms. And stories like this just perpetuate the fear (and stigma?)…

It's maddening to me that Melzer's reagent, which is commonly used in identification for microscopic inspection of fungi, is a controlled substance.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#114

Post by BurningFrog »

roywiggins wrote: post #88

"Gholam says that the process of FDA approval for Silibinin is slow, primarily because it only works for amatoxin poisoning, from the Amanita mushroom species. Those poisonings are rare – so gathering enough data to satisfy the safety and efficacy requirements of the FDA takes time." Okay, but there must be data, since the EU approved it based on something, right?

Sure, a rational version of FDA would accept it based on EU approval data.

But that's not the FDA we have.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#115

Post by EdwardDiego »

colechristensen wrote: post #58
nkurz wrote: post #44

Since no one has done it yet, I'll ask the obvious question about the FDA: how many people die or need a liver transplant each year because the FDA is being unreasonable here? Here's some quotes from the article: Approximately 40% of people who ingest the deadly Amanita mushrooms die or require a liver transplant, according to Dr. Pierre Gholam, the liver specialist at University Hospitals who treated Hickman. ... Th…

Couldn’t the patient just take a bunch of the milk thistle supplements available at most pharmacies?

Given the link between milk thistle usage over time and thyroid disorder, I'm amazed it's available.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#116

Post by mattigames »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #105
bombcar wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a 72 hour window it sounds simpler to bundle the patient in a plane to Europe.

You also have the option of flying to Europe, getting the drug, and flying back with it to give to the patient.

With the ridiculous prices of health care in America it's likely also cheaper too.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#117

Post by yosito »

I'm from Ohio, and even before the apps, it was common to hear stories about people being poisoned by mushrooms. It's also relatively well known (though not well enough, obviously) that there are several species of toxic mushrooms that look nearly identical to edible ones. Perhaps people think an app is going to be infallible. I really think app stores ought to pull any mushroom-identifying app that doesn't come with a prominent warning. I live in Hungary now. Here we have mushroom identification centers at the local markets where we can bring mushrooms collected in the wild to be identified by professional mycologists. Maybe Ohio needs this as well.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#118

Post by 1letterunixname »

yosito wrote: post #117

I'm from Ohio, and even before the apps, it was common to hear stories about people being poisoned by mushrooms. It's also relatively well known (though not well enough, obviously) that there are several species of toxic mushrooms that look nearly identical to edible ones. Perhaps people think an app is going to be infallible. I really think app stores ought to pull any mushroom-identifying app that doesn't come with…

And approve a life-saving drug that's already proven in Europe.

It seems reckless and stupid to not immediately approve it given the impact.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#119

Post by yosito »

anm89 wrote: post #90

I think this gives people the wrong impression that mushroom foraging is dangerous. It isn't. Anyone can quickly learn to identify the safe edible species around them. But the key is, you have to understand that you should know upfront what species around you, in your current season, are edible and eat only exactly those species. For example, almost anyone can learn to identify chicken of the woods, morels, oysters,…

> the key is, you have to understand that you should know upfront what species around you, in your current season, are edible and eat only exactly those species

This is missing a very important factor, which is that there are some edible species with highly toxic lookalikes. These lookalikes are quite common in Ohio, hence why poisonings from misidentified mushrooms are also common.

Re: A rash of nearly lethal mushroom poisonings in Ohio

#120

Post by 1letterunixname »

mattigames wrote: post #116
thaumasiotes wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also have the option of flying to Europe, getting the drug, and flying back with it to give to the patient.

With the ridiculous prices of health care in America it's likely also cheaper too.

A bicycle accident bill can be over 100k USD without any surgery or being admitted overnight. Having a stroke can be 500-600k which might cause another upon seeing the bill.
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