Investigation of a food poisoning incident caused by accidental consumption of poisonous mushrooms in L county, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu, 2022

  Objective  To investigate the epidemiological characteristics and environmental factors of a food poisoning caused by toxic mushrooms that occurred in County L, Linxia State in 2022, to provide a basis for the prevention and control of toxic mushrooms.

  Methods  Design questionnaires to collect case information, develop case definitions, conduct case searches, and collect remaining food samples and field samples for gene sequencing sequence analysis.

  Results  A total of 9 clinical cases were found in this outbreak, and the results of the on-site epidemiological investigation and laboratory tests indicated that the cause of this food poisoning was the consumption of self-picked wild mushrooms. The nucleic acid sequence coverage of the tested samples was 100.00% with 96.06% concordance with Inocybe erubescens (A. Blytt) Matheny & Esteve-Rav. (variegated red silk-capped umbrella), which is a neuropsychotoxic mushroom. It is the first time that food poisoning with Inocybe erubescens has been reported in Linxia.

  Conclusion  This outbreak was a food poisoning incident caused by the masses mistakenly eating wild poisonous mushrooms turned Inocybe erubescens. It is necessary to further strengthen the health education work related to wild mushroom poisoning to the masses, informing them not to believe in the identification methods of toxic wild mushrooms circulating among the people, suggesting that during the high season of mushroom poisoning, early warnings should be issued through multimedia, public, radio and television, and actively promote not to pick and eat wild mushrooms at will It is recommended that during the high season of mushroom poisoning, warnings should be issued through multimedia, radio and television, and actively promote the idea of not picking and eating wild mushrooms at will and to prevent food poisoning.