Most refugees have already defied the odds by the time they arrive in Europe, having typically undertaken perilous journeys across land and sea. But once they have reached Germany they are not out of danger, according to mushroom experts and doctors, who warn record numbers of people are becoming ill after eating poisonous mushrooms.
A leading German toxicologist has said poisonings are at an all-time high owing to the large number of newcomers foraging for mushrooms and mistaking those they find for varieties found in their homelands.
Prof Siegmar Berndt, thead toxicologist of the German Mycological Society, said he had never come across so many cases. “In my 70-year lifespan there have never been so many mushroom poisonings as there have been so far this year,” he told the Guardian.
“Most of the victims are refugees and asylum-seekers who have already arrived in Germany, mainly from Syria.”
In addition to whole families who headed into the woodland close to their refugee shelters to forage for mushrooms, and took pleasure in finding something they appeared to know from their countries of origin, there were groups of men looking for alternative ways to spend their time who had fallen victim to toxic mushroom varieties.
“It’s largely young men who are bored. They go for a walk in the woods, pick the mushrooms and consume them after frying them,” Berndt said. “It’s tragic, particularly when you consider the journeys they’ve already endured to get here.”
In the first two weeks of September alone, there have been more than 40 reported cases of poisonings, mainly linked to thedeath cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides. The fungus is responsible for 90% of all mushroom poisoning. One or two cases in a season would be the norm. But Berndt believes the real figure could be much higher. “There is no obligation for people to report cases of poisoning in Germany, so I suspect there have been lots of other cases that have gone unreported,” he said.
With the three-month mushroom season only about halfway gone, more cases are expected.
The poisonings include 30 in Hannover and a further 10 in Münster, including a 16-year-old boy who died after a replacement liver could not be found in time to save him. Another Syrian is in a critical condition and awaiting a suitable liver.
Experts believe that the victims mistook the death caps for the bearded Amanita, which is not found in Germany but grows in the Mediterranean area.
In response to the high number of incidents, doctors at Hannover Medical School have formulated a poster that has been distributed to refugee shelters across Germany in eight languages.
It warns against collecting and consuming the fungus, which it says has no repellant taste and the first symptoms occur only after several hours.
“A mushroom you regard from your homeland as a delicious edible mushroom could be deadly here, although they look similar,” it states, urging anyone who has eaten one to seek hospital help, and to take any remains, or any vomit, with them, in order to help determine the cause of the poisoning.
“With the mushroom season still having some way to go, if we can reach people with this message, we really have the chance to save lives,” said Stefan Zorn, spokesman for the hospital.
Spikes in mushroom-poisoning cases have previously been linked to the arrival of refugees. In the late 90s there were several incidents of Kosovans being poisoned, and, in the early 90s, of ethnic Germans from Russia.
Often the victims are reluctant to present themselves in hospital for fear of getting into trouble for stealing.
The death cap mushroom, once consumed, can quickly lead to liver and kidney malfunction owing to the amatoxin it contains. As small an amount as half a mushroom can be fatal.
“But it can take up to three days for the symptoms – including vomiting and diarrhoea – to appear, by which time someone’s liver might have been destroyed,” said Kerstin Aretz, from Dresden, who, like Berndt, is one of more than 1,000 registered mushroom experts throughout Germany, to whom mushroom pickers can turn with queries about whether their spoils are edible or not.
