Three S. county residents sickened by toxic mushrooms

Four La Pine-area residents were rushed to St. Charles Bend Thursday afternoon after they ingested poison mushrooms, having used a phone app to identify which kinds were safe to eat, sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies and La Pine Fire District medics responded around 4 p.m. to a report of mushroom poisoning on private property in the 54000 block of Pinewood Avenue, located south of Sunriver and north of La Pine, said Sgt. Doug Sullivan.

Two boys, ages 4 and 14, were showing symptoms of mushroom poisoning, as was a 34-year-old woman, Sullivan said. A 15-year-old boy who also ate the mushrooms was showing no symptoms at the time, but also was taken by ambulance to the Bend hospital as a precautionary measure.

Sullivan said members of several families living on the property ingested the poisonous mushrooms, gathered mostly on their property, after misidentifying them as edible on a phone app.

The sheriff’s office reminded the public to learn the identifying features of mushrooms and to turn to experts and field guides to be sure what you have gathered is safe to eat.

“Collect and identify what you think is the same species repeatedly,” Sullivan said, noting that “some mushrooms change appearance dramatically as they mature, or even in different seasons.”

The sergeant also urged using several field guides, as “one picture is not enough. Read the descriptions carefully and when in doubt, don’t consume wild mushrooms.”