2026年2月7日 / 美国东部时间上午7:33 / 美联社
一场多雨的冬季过后，加州泛滥的”死亡帽”蘑菇已导致4人死亡，另有3人需要接受肝移植。
加州公共卫生部表示，自11月18日以来，已有超过30起死亡帽中毒案例被报告。许多就医者出现急性肝损伤和肝衰竭症状快速恶化，几名患者需进入重症监护室。中毒者年龄从19个月到67岁不等。
该部门敦促民众今年完全避免蘑菇采集，因为死亡帽蘑菇极易与安全可食用的品种混淆。
死亡帽是世界上最毒的蘑菇之一，属于含有鹅膏毒素的小类群。鹅膏毒素是强效化合物，占全球致命蘑菇中毒案例的90%。它们常见于城市公园和森林中，通常生长在橡树下。
旧金山加州毒物控制系统医疗主任克雷格·斯莫林博士表示，正常年份每年仅有2至5起死亡帽中毒事件。
“今年的主要问题是中毒人数之多，几乎达到40人，这非常不寻常。”斯莫林说道。
专家称，温暖的秋季气温和早雨导致加州今年死亡帽出现”超级爆发”。
即使少量误食也可能致命，专家警告称蘑菇颜色并非检测毒性的可靠方法，无论死亡帽是生、干还是煮熟，毒性都不会改变。
劳拉·马塞利诺向《旧金山纪事报》讲述，她在北加州萨利纳斯镇的家人采集了看起来与他们在墨西哥南部瓦哈卡州家乡采集的蘑菇相似的品种。
“我们以为它是安全的，”36岁的马塞利诺用西班牙语说道。
第二天，她的丈夫感到头晕和疲惫，而马塞利诺感觉良好，两人再次食用了蘑菇，将其与玉米饼一起煮汤。他们的孩子不喜欢蘑菇，所以没有食用。第二天，这两名季节性农场工人开始出现呕吐症状，不得不请假。
马塞利诺在医院住了五天，她的丈夫则接受了肝移植手术。
专家表示，人们食用毒蘑菇后24小时内可能出现胃痉挛、恶心、腹泻或呕吐，随后病情可能迅速恶化。早期症状可能在一天内消失，但严重至致命的肝损伤仍可能在2至3天内发展。
北加州和中央海岸的地方及国家公园已发现死亡帽蘑菇，蒙特雷和旧金山湾区也已确认出现集群生长。
卫生部称，中毒者包括许多西班牙语、米斯特克语和普通话使用者，为此该州已扩展了多语言警告。
根据卫生部数据，西班牙语是超过60%中毒者的主要语言。
斯莫林表示，死亡帽与世界各地许多可食用的真菌品种相似，且在不同生长阶段外观会变化——从棕白色菌盖逐渐变为绿色菌盖。
“除非你是研究蘑菇的专家，否则很难分辨，”斯莫林说。
今年中毒者中还包括儿童。官员建议留意在蘑菇生长区域活动的儿童和宠物，并从可信的杂货店和卖家处购买蘑菇。
一旦出现症状，治疗会更加困难，因此医生建议，一旦有人意识到自己食用了毒蘑菇或怀疑误食，应立即就医。
美国毒物控制中心向美联社透露，从9月到1月，各类蘑菇（不仅是死亡帽）的接触案例较去年同期增加了40%。接触并不总是导致疾病或中毒。
如需紧急中毒处理或蘑菇相关咨询，可拨打美国毒物控制中心电话1-800-222-1222或访问PoisonHelp.org。
![图片由加州公共卫生部提供，显示死亡帽蘑菇。加州公共卫生部通过美联社提供]
California urges people to avoid wild mushrooms after 4 deaths, 3 liver transplants
February 7, 2026 / 7:33 AM EST / AP
Four people have died and three others have required liver transplants after eating the aptly named death cap mushroom that is proliferating in California following a rainy winter.
More than three dozen cases of death cap poisonings have been reported since Nov. 18, the California Department of Public Health said. Many who sought medical attention suffered from rapidly evolving acute liver injury and liver failure. Several patients required admission to an intensive care unit. They have ranged in age from 19 months to 67 years old.
The department is urging people to avoid mushroom foraging altogether this year because death cap mushrooms are easily confused with safe, edible varieties.
The death cap is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world and is part of a small group of mushrooms containing amatoxins, which are highly potent compounds causing 90% of fatal mushroom poisonings globally. They are in city parks and in forests, often under oak trees.
In a typical year, there are between two and five death cap poisonings, said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director for the San Francisco Division of the California Poison Control System.
This photo provided by the California Department of Public Health shows death cap mushrooms. CDPH viua AP
“The main thing this year is just the magnitude, the number of people ingesting this mushroom,” Smollin said. “Having almost 40 is very unusual.”
Warm, fall temperatures coupled with early rains are leading to a kind of “super bloom” of death caps in California this year, experts say.
Eating even a small amount can be fatal, and experts warn that a mushroom’s color is not a reliable way of detecting its toxicity, and whether the death cap variety is raw, dried or cooked does not make a difference.
Laura Marcelino told the San Francisco Chronicle that her family in the Northern California town of Salinas gathered mushrooms that looked like the ones she and her husband used to forage in their native Oaxaca, a state in Southern Mexico.
“We thought it was safe,” Marcelino, 36, said in Spanish.
Her husband was dizzy and tired the next day, but Marcelino felt fine, and they ate the mushrooms again, heating them up in a soup with tortillas. Their kids don’t like mushrooms and so didn’t have any. The next day, both adults, seasonal farmworkers, became ill with vomiting and stayed home from work.
Marcelino spent five days in the hospital, while her husband had to undergo a liver transplant.
People can have stomach cramping, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting within 24 hours after ingesting a toxic mushroom and the situation can quickly deteriorate after that, experts say. Early symptoms may also go away within a day, but serious to fatal liver damage can still develop within 2 to 3 days.
Death cap mushrooms have been collected in local and national parks across Northern California and the Central Coast. Clusters have been identified in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas as well.
The public health department said those poisoned have included many Spanish, Mixteco, and Mandarin Chinese speakers and the state, in response, has expanded their warnings in different languages.
Spanish was the primary language for more than 60% of people poisoned, according to the health department.
The death cap resembles many fungi varieties from around the world that are safe to eat, and it changes in appearance in different stages, Smollin said, going from a brownish-white cap to a greenish cap.
“Unless you’re an expert who studies mushrooms, it can be very difficult to know,” Smollin said.
Children have been among those poisoned this year. Officials advise keeping an eye on children and pets outside where mushrooms grow, and buying mushrooms from trusted grocery stores and sellers.
Treatment is more difficult once symptoms start so doctors advise people to seek medical care once someone becomes aware that they have eaten a poisonous mushroom or suspect they have.
U.S. Poison Centers said in an email to The Associated Press it has seen an increase in exposures of all varieties of mushrooms – not just the death cap – from September through January by 40% from the same period the previous year. Exposures do not always result in illness or poisoning.
U.S. Poison Control Centers can be reached in case of an emergency poisoning or for questions about mushrooms at 1-800-222-1222 or PoisonHelp.org.
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