Zatrucie piestrzenicą kasztanowatą – zapomniany problem: doniesienie kliniczne i przegląd literatury

Abstrakt

False morel (Gyromitra esculenta) poisonings have been noted in Europe since the 18th century. In the Polish literature most cases, including fatalities, are to be found in the 1960s and 70s. The consequence of these publications was the recognition of G. esculenta as a poisonous species. As they rarely occur nowadays, these poisonings have not been particularly interesting for Polish toxicologists in recent decades. In April 2017 a 38-year-old man, an Orthodox priest, was hospitalised with gastrointestinal symptoms, jaundice and biochemical signs of liver damage. After 14 hours the patient had no ailments and left the hospital at his own request, due to his Easter duties. Three days later he returned to the hospital worried about persistent jaundice. He was treated for 7 days and was discharged in a good general condition and with significant improvement in biochemical assays. False morels had been received as a gift from his parishioners instead of true morels. Despite their known toxicity, false morels are still occasionally harvested and consumed, in the mycophilic Polish society. A few decades ago this mushroom was considered edible and it is still commercially available in some countries now. If not correctly prepared, it can cause serious poisoning. However, it seems that a more common cause of poisonings is the misidentification of false morel as true morel (Morchella esculenta). An exceptional case is poisoning with fungus accepted as a gift. This usually happens when both donor and beneficiary appreciate mushrooms, but neither one nor the other has sufficient experience in their recognition.