WEBVTT - Why Are Death Cap Mushrooms Invading America? 0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.400 Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:10.680 brain Stuff. Lauren Vogelbaum here, first off, out of an 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.640 abundance of caution, if you're listening to this podcast episode 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.320 because you suspect that you have ingested a deathcap mushroom 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.400 or any poisonous mushroom and you're in the United States, 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:22.840 called the American Association of Poison Control Centers toll free 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:26.640 twenty four hour hotline at two to two one to 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.440 to two immediately. If you live outside of the United States, 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:36.320 contact your local poison control center in your region or country. Okay, okay, 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:41.600 I say this because these mushrooms are serious. Following a 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.800 mushroom bloom in the San Francisco Bay area in late fourteen, 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:50.400 people consumed this poisonous fungus and fell drastically ill. One 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.680 child even experienced permanent neurological damage. And these were just 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:56.960 some of the latest in a string of poisonings over 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.280 the last few decades, a small handful of which proved 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:04.760 to be fatal. The toxic cause Amanita pholoids, better known 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.920 by its grim moniker, the deathcap mushroom. The death cap 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.600 mushroom is what's known in the world of mycology as 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:15.080 a mutualist. This means that it grows in tandem with 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.360 a host to the benefit of both. The host. In 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:20.920 the case of this mushroom is one of several types 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.120 of trees. The fungus grows in the soil and mingles 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.880 with the tree's roots, drawing out nitrogen from the soil 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.280 and bringing it to the tree in exchange for carbon. 0:01:31.160 --> 0:01:33.959 In California, where the death cap mushroom is fairly common, 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.040 possibly due to its pleasant Mediterranean climate, the fungus normally 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.080 grows in tandem with coast live oak. On the east coast, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.920 the fungus usually attaches to pine, and in the fungus's 0:01:46.000 --> 0:01:50.200 native Europe, it's a combination of beech and oak. For 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:52.640 the article, this episode is based on hows to work 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.920 spoke with Anne Pringle, the Letters and Science Rubinstein, Professor 0:01:56.000 --> 0:02:00.280 of Botany and Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. A. 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:04.880 Pringle's research confirms what other mycologists have theorized. Amanita floids 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.800 is a non native species that was introduced to California 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:12.040 from Europe in the not too distant past. If this 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:15.480 mushroom was native to California, it would be genetically different 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.120 from the European variety. About the California death cap is 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.760 genetically interrelated to the European one, ergo, the fungus is 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:26.839 one and the same. Pringle said that the first known 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.560 sightings in California were at the Del Monte Hotel in 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:32.920 nineteen thirty eight and on the University of California Berkeley 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:38.120 campus in nineteen forty five. So how on earth did 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.400 the death cap get to California. One common theory is 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.480 that people from Europe transported cork oak from Europe to 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:48.079 California to plant the tree locally, and that's how emanated 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.000 Floyd is growing on the cork oaks roots may have 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:54.280 reached North America. It's a good theory, though no one 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:58.640 has found hard evidence to support it yet. While the 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.960 death cap is considered an of species in California, that's 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.000 not necessarily the case on the East Coast. It's partly 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.280 due to a difference inhabitat. On the East Coast, you'll 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.640 find it more often in contained urban settings like parks, 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.520 where someone may have planted a tree that hosts the 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.280 death cap, But in California, the fungus is growing in 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.480 forested areas, like the Point Raise National Seashore in the 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:25.040 Greater San Francisco Bay Area. The fungus is spreading up 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.800 the West coast in British Columbia too. Some scientists like 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.160 Pringle are interested in managing the spread of invasive fungi 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.480 like the death cap. Pringle's team has mapped nearly a 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:39.480 hundred genomes of floids, so it's possible that future research 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:44.600 could help curb the mushroom's deadly reach. So what happens 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:49.000 if you do accidentally ingest a deathcap mushroom? How stuff Works? 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.160 Also spoke with Race Fuora, medical director for the Fresno 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.680 Madera Division of the California Poison Control System. He explained 0:03:56.720 --> 0:04:00.480 that the fungus contains a couple of toxins, including foula toxin, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:05.360 which quote causes severe nausea, vomiting, and dehydration with resulting 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:10.120 kidney damage and electrolyte imbalances. But the kicker is the 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:14.200 alpha A mantin or amatoxin, which prevents certain cells from 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.080 making important proteins and other cellular components. It does its 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.640 work in the liver. The previous victims have required emergency 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:26.599 liver transplants. The poisoning is spread out over three phases, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:28.800 and it can take several hours for symptoms of the 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:32.360 death caps toxins to present in the body. Phase one 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:35.720 is nausea and vomiting. In phase two, the nausea and 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:39.799 vomiting might cease, but liver damage progresses in a dramatic fashion. 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:44.400 In phase three, advanced liver failure, seizures, loss of blood pressure, 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.360 brain swelling, and comas can occur, and in the worst 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:53.920 case scenario, death. So the number one takeaway here do 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.080 not consume the death cap in any form. In fact, 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.920 unless you're extremely familiar with the fungi in your air, 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:03.760 Pringle urges that you hold off on wild mushroom foraging, 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:06.440 as it can be really tricky to identify and separate 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:10.240 poisonous mushrooms from safe ones. If you spot a mushroom 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:13.000 that you suspect maybe a deathcap and want help verifying 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:16.479 its identity, Pringle suggests heading over to mushroom observer dot 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.400 org to seek guidance. A touching a deathcap should be fine, 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.799 since there's no evidence that the toxins transmit through skin contact. However, 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.279 Pringle advises that you wash your hands after handling any 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.480 sort of mushroom, but although they do cause the majority 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.839 of mushroom related fatalities globally, deathcap poisonings are still pretty 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:40.600 rare in the United States. Moreover, Vora says that the 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.880 fatality rate is believed to be in the range of 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.560 ten to fifteen percent of cases. That's nothing disneeze at, 0:05:46.800 --> 0:05:55.440 but it's not an automatic death sentence either. Today's episode 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:58.280 is based on the article Poisonous deathcap mushroom spreads over 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.920 North America on house toffworks dot com, written by Terry 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.680 yr Lagata. Brain Stuff is production of I Heart Radio 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:06.000 in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced 0:06:06.000 --> 0:06:08.799 by Tyler Klain. For more podcasts from My heart Radio, 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.599 visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:12.839 listen to your favorite shows.