According to a fire organization that services Pennsylvania Dutch Country, eleven persons were admitted to the hospital on Friday night after consuming wild and seemingly poisonous mushrooms.
News station WGAL of Lancaster, Pennsylvania said that among the patients in Peach Bottom Township were a man, a woman, and nine children who were treated at a hospital before being released.
The township is located in Dutch Country, which shares a common history and culture with Amish Country. It is situated on the Maryland border, approximately 80 miles west of Philadelphia.
Family members gathered wild mushrooms and consumed them that evening, according to the station.
To reach a public phone to call 911, a family member had to go half a mile. In general, telephones and other modern gadgets are forbidden among the Amish.
The 11 patients were transported with the assistance of emergency medical personnel who arrived at the scene after 9:30 p.m. on Friday, according to a statement from Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company Station 57.
Since so many individuals were unwell, the occurrence was classified as a “mass casualty incident,” according to the government.
Eating mushrooms that have been foraged outdoors should virtually never be done by anybody other than mycologists, who are skilled specialists, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read Also: 13-Year-Old Injured as Two Men Drive Onto Sidewalk in Abington Township
According to a CDC research on dangerous fungus, gathering amanita phalloides mushrooms, also referred to as “death caps,” in the wild is responsible for the majority of documented mushroom poisonings and fatalities in the United States.
According to the CDC, eating them can result in liver damage, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. It can also cause death.
