Clinical trials are now under way to determine the effectiveness of a new treatment for the unfortunate few people each year who consume poisonous mushrooms containing the deadly amatoxin. The program is led by two doctors from Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California, an important mushrooming area of the Golden State, and uses Legalon-Sil, a European antidote derived from the common milk thistle.
Initial results are very positive. So far, three persons in the US have been treated under the study, and all three are doing well.
This is great news for the mushrooming community. Even though deadly poisonings are very rare among experienced and properly cautious mushroomers (hopefully, that includes all of our readers!), it seems that every year there is at least a case or two, sometimes more. Such cases were usually fatal.
Please read the article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Here's a link:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15052836?source=email