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Raqqa Wild Mushroom Poisoning Kills 4 Children, Raqqa Media Directorate Says
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Three children from one family died after eating poisonous wild mushrooms at Tishreen farm. Three other children were injured and transferred to Aleppo hospitals for treatment.
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Raqqa children poisoned
Poisonous wild mushroom ingestion at the Tishreen Farm in the Raqqa countryside killed 4 children, and the Raqqa Media Directorate said two other children were still receiving treatment at a hospital in the city of Aleppo.
The Raqqa Media Directorate said it had announced yesterday, Friday, the death of 3 children and the injury of three others in the poisoning incident at the Tishreen Farm.
Raqqa National Hospital issued an urgent warning to families to strictly refrain from picking or consuming wild mushrooms after 6 cases of poisoning from poisonous wild mushrooms arrived at the hospital the day before yesterday, Thursday.
Dr. Nasser Al-Ali, head of the hospital’s hepatic department, confirmed the impossibility of distinguishing between poisonous and safe mushrooms by the naked eye, and he said symptoms appear within 3 to 6 hours, beginning with digestive and allergic disturbances.
Timing and treatment
Dr. Nasser Al-Ali stressed the importance of rapid emergency intervention within the first two hours to ensure the patient’s life is saved, and he warned that delays beyond 6 hours greatly reduce the chances of survival.
Dr. Rawa Mahmoud Al-Tijar, a clinical nutritionist, told "Syria Now" that some types of poisonous mushrooms contain chemicals that harm the body and cause organ damage, especially the liver and kidneys.
Al-Tijar said symptoms may not appear during the first 6 to 24 hours, and she described a third stage marked by a deceptive sense of improvement and absence of symptoms.
Al-Tijar concluded that cooking methods of all kinds, such as boiling or grilling, do not eliminate the toxic substance found in mushrooms, and she called for families not to consume any type of mushroom or food from unknown sources, especially wild mushrooms.
Home remedies criticized
Raqqa National Hospital warned parents to completely refrain from picking wild mushrooms or consuming them, and Dr. Nasser al-Ali said the naked eye cannot distinguish poisonous from safe mushrooms.
The Syrian official news agency SANA reported that the death toll rose to three children after two children died on Thursday, while a girl died the previous evening, and SANA said three other children were injured.
Dr. Nasser Al-Ali said the children spent four days receiving home treatments and taking medicines from pharmacies haphazardly, without being transferred to a hospital immediately after symptoms appeared.
Agricultural engineer Hussein al-Ali told Al-Watan that there is no simple general rule or single form that can determine toxicity, and he said the only scientific solution for precise identification is performed by scientists and experts in biology and mycology.