Guwahati: At least eight members of a family fell ill after consuming ‘poisonous’ mushrooms in Assam’s Sivasagar district on Thursday.
The incident took place in the Sapekhati village of the district after the affected people consumed the mushrooms picked from their backyard for lunch.
The individuals have been identified as Dhaniram Karmakar, Shankar Karmakar, Mamata Karmakar, Hemant Karmakar, Mongli Karmakar, Ganesh Karmakar, Akhil Karmakar, and Parishmita Karmakar.
Soon after, they complained of health complications and were rushed to the nearby Rajapukhuri hospital by the neighbours.
Without any delay, treatment was started before the toxins got absorbed into the body, which saved the lives of the eight people. At present, their condition is known to be stable.
Earlier, on April 9, three people, including a two-year-old child, died after consuming poisonous mushrooms in Assam’s Golaghat district.
The panel, comprising scientists from the Assam Agriculture University (AAU), found a poisonous variety of mushrooms called “Amanita Phalloides”, responsible for the deaths.
Consumption of poisonous mushrooms causes gastrointestinal illnesses such as nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. Liver failure and death, about nine out of 10 fungi-related deaths are attributable to the death cap mushroom Amanita phalloides.
Though the Assam government has been carrying out awareness campaigns through newspaper advertisements against the consumption of poisonous mushrooms, the messages fail to reach remote places due to various reasons, one of them being illiteracy.
