Three more people sick in California amid ‘unprecedented outbreak’ due to toxic mushrooms

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Since November, state has seen 47 cases of people accidentally ingesting poisonous wild mushrooms

Health authorities in California’s Napa county reported that three people had been hospitalized after consuming poisonous wild mushrooms as the state continues to grapple with an “​​unprecedented outbreak” of toxic mushroom illnesses.

Since November 2025, California has seen 47 cases of people accidentally foraging and eating poisonous wild mushrooms, including death caps, which can resemble edible species, and western destroying angel mus​​hrooms. Four people have died and several have required liver transplants.

The Napa group ate mushrooms foraged from the Deer Park area, according to a statement from the county public health department. The incident comes as recent rains have contributed to the resurgence of poisonous wild mushrooms across the state, said Dr Christine Wu, the county’s public health officer.

“Poisonous mushrooms can look and taste similar to safe mushrooms, and even experienced mushroom hunters have been affected by this outbreak,” Wu said in a statement.

Symptoms can start out mild but quickly become fatal, according to the county public health department, which advised people not to eat wild mushrooms and keep children and pets away from the fungi.

California too has urged residents not to consume any wild mushrooms this year, citing the increase in poisonings. In a typical year, the state sees fewer than five mushroom-poisoning cases.

As the Guardian reported earlier this year, many of the incidents were connected with the area around the town of Salinas. The central coast community is home to a large number of people from central Mexico, a region with a tradition of mushroom foraging. Some people appear to have mistaken death caps for an edible species they foraged in their home country.

“We thought it was safe,” one poisoning victim told the San Francisco Chronicle in February. “It looked a lot like the ones we picked and ate back in Oaxaca.”

Death caps are highly poisonous, and consuming half a cap or less can kill a person, but the fungi, which can grow up to 6in tall, can appear similar to other types of common mushrooms.

“Death cap mushrooms can closely resemble edible species in the same family, and novice foragers can very easily make a mistake,” Jess Starwood, an herbalist, forager and educator who teaches about wild plants, told the Guardian in February. “In the past, these deadly mushrooms were not as common as they are now, which increases the risk of misidentifying them.”

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