Headlines - Mushroom Poisonings in 2014

As it has done every year since 2010, the InVS monitors mushroom poisoning cases from July 1 to December 31 based on cases recorded by the Poison Control and Toxicovigilance Centers (CAPTV) and the Oscour® emergency department network (a network for coordinated monitoring of emergency department visits). In 2014, 240 cases of mushroom poisoning were recorded by the CAPTVs between Monday, June 30, and Sunday, August 17 (weeks 27 through 33). A weekly number of poisonings ranging from 35 to 50 has been observed since week 29. The Oscour® network recorded 116 emergency room visits for mushroom poisoning during the same period. These cases were observed mainly in Midi-Pyrénées, Rhône-Alpes, Languedoc-Roussillon, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, but all geographic regions were affected. In Burgundy, the emergency network recorded 4 emergency room visits in August (3 in Saône-et-Loire and 1 in Côte-d'Or), and in Franche-Comté, a single case was recorded in July (in the Doubs). In 2013, during the same period, 95 cases of poisoning and 34 emergency room visits were recorded by the CAPTV and Oscour® network. These figures are consistent with this summer’s rainy weather, which caused mushrooms to appear early and consequently brought forward the picking season starting in mid-July. These peaks in poisoning cases vary from year to year depending on weather conditions, and last year two peaks were observed, in late September and late October.