![Heavy rains have resulted in a rise of poisonous mushrooms, leaving eight Victorians in hospital. Heavy rains have resulted in a rise of poisonous mushrooms, leaving eight Victorians in hospital.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/e56b8668-8fa4-47cf-b357-c06eff85c45a.jpg/r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Foraging for mushrooms might look like a healthy hobby to kill time during lockdown, but some of these deceptive fungi can kill you instead.
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Eight Victorians, including a child, have been admitted to hospital in the past two weeks with severe poisoning after eating wild mushrooms.
Five were put in intensive care and one person died, but Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Angie Bone couldn't confirm if the death was directly related to the mushroom poisoning.
The number of people calling the Victorian poisons information centre has doubled this year, Dr Bone said.
The growth of poisonous mushrooms at parks and in backyards has increased as a result of the recent heavy rains.
"We also do know that with the stay at home restrictions, a lot of people are trying new things around baking, et cetera," Dr Bone told reporters.
"And you can speculate that perhaps people have thought that picking wild mushrooms would be a novel thing to do without understanding the severity of the possible outcomes."
Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea can occur within hours after eating dangerous mushrooms varieties like the Yellow Stainer.
The poisonous Death Cap mushrooms can cause liver failure after 48 hours and cooking or drying them doesn't make them edible.
The Death Cap is responsible for 90 per cent of all mushroom poisoning deaths.
Both varieties of mushrooms are very similar to those found in supermarkets and have even been found near Melbourne's Federation Square.
For that reason, Dr Bone encouraged Victorians to have an awareness of pets and to not pick any mushrooms unless in company of an expert.
In the past 30 days, Facebook groups such as Victorian Fungi have seen more than a thousand members joining.
However, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria senior research scientist of mycology Tom May said there is nothing about a mushroom that tells you whether it's edible or poisonous.
"You need to know exactly what you're eating - that's something that takes many years of experience to guide you," Dr May said.
Councils where mushrooms have been found have been asked to consider putting up signage and removing mushrooms.
Australian Associated Press