18 August 2010
The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health today (August 18) urged the public not to collect and eat wild mushrooms from parks or the countryside.
The call followed a report of suspected food poisoning involving a 28-year-old man who had eaten wild mushrooms picked from a public flower bed at Po Lam Road.
He developed abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness and palpitation about three hours after eating the wild mushrooms at home on August 17.
He attended the Accident and Emergency Department of Tseung Kwan O Hospital and was admitted on the same day. He is 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 inedible ones.
"Mushroom toxin poisonings are generally acute. The main treatment for this kind of poisoning is only supportive treatment," the spokesman said.