31 July 2010
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (July 31) urged the public not to collect and eat wild mushrooms from parks or countryside.
The call followed a report of suspected food poisoning involving two females and a male, aged between 13 and 41, who had eaten wild mushrooms picked from a roadside slope in Tai Wo Hau.
The affected people developed abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea about two to three hours after eating the wild mushrooms at home this morning.
They attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Yan Chai Hospital on the same day. They are now in stable condition.
A CHP spokesman advised people not to pick wild mushrooms for consumption as it was difficult to distinguish edible mushroom species from the inedible ones.
"Mushroom toxin poisonings are generally acute. The main treatment for this kind of poisoning is only supportive treatment," the spokesman said.