Mushroom poisoning in Turkey: what to do first

The first five minutes

Time matters in mushroom poisoning, and the first steps usually happen at home or in a holiday rental, in a hurry. This is the order we follow:

• If anyone has symptoms, call 112 straight away. In Turkey 112 covers ambulance, police and fire, and the ambulance service can consult the poison centre.
• If no one has symptoms but you doubt what was eaten, call 114, the National Poison Information Centre. The line is free and open 24 hours a day, and it will tell you whether you need to go to hospital.
• Collect any leftover mushrooms, trimmings and even stems from the bin into a paper bag. Plastic makes mushrooms sweat and break down.
• Write down when the meal was eaten, who ate it, roughly how much, and where the mushrooms were picked or bought.
• Take everyone who shared the meal to hospital, even those who feel fine.

What not to do

Some folk remedies look harmless but waste precious time or make things worse:

• Do not try to make the person vomit with fingers or salt water. There is a risk of choking and of aspiration; doctors decide on stomach decontamination.
• Do not give milk, yoghurt, ayran, vinegar or herbal mixtures as an antidote. There is no home remedy that neutralises mushroom toxins.
• Do not turn back from the hospital because the person suddenly feels better.
• Do not trust tests such as a silver spoon turning black or an onion changing colour. None of them detects poisonous mushrooms.
• Do not make decisions based on a photo app's identification.

Why late symptoms are the most dangerous

Most fatal mushroom poisonings in Turkey are caused by the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and other species containing amatoxins. With these toxins, symptoms typically begin 6 to 12 hours after the meal. After a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea, the person may feel better for a day or so while liver damage progresses. So "we ate at dinner and nothing happened overnight" is no reassurance.

Nausea and vomiting starting within the first hour or two often point to milder poisonings, but this is not a rule: a dish may contain more than one species. We describe the timeline in detail in symptoms of mushroom poisoning, and when poisoning can be fatal in can mushroom poisoning kill.

What to tell the hospital

In the emergency department, these details speed up diagnosis: the time of the meal, when symptoms started, how much was eaten, where the mushrooms were found and which trees grew nearby, whether they were cooked, and whether alcohol was drunk with the meal. The sample in your paper bag can be examined by doctors and, if needed, a mycologist. Hospitals also consult the 114 centre on treatment. We explain how the line works in what the poison information line does.

Turkish public hospitals (devlet hastanesi) and university hospitals have 24-hour emergency departments (acil servis). Treatment of emergencies is not refused, and travel insurance details can be sorted out later. Keep your passport or residence card with you.

Useful Turkish phrases

If you do not speak Turkish, these short phrases help on the phone and at the hospital:

• Mantar zehirlenmesi: mushroom poisoning.
• Yabani mantar yedik: we ate wild mushrooms.
• Ambulans lazım: we need an ambulance.
• İngilizce konuşan biri var mı?: is there someone who speaks English?
• Saat ... da yedik: we ate at ... o'clock.

Children and pets

If you think a child has put a mushroom in their mouth in a garden or park, call 114 without waiting for symptoms and collect what is left of the mushroom. Even a small piece matters. Our step-by-step guide is if a child eats a mushroom. Dogs can also be poisoned by wild mushrooms; take them to the nearest veterinary clinic.

For tourists and foreign residents

For a visitor who does not speak Turkish, 112 is the quickest route; some operators speak English. At the hospital, saying "mantar zehirlenmesi" is enough to start the right process. Hotel reception staff are usually glad to help with translation. Be careful with wild mushrooms sold at markets or by the roadside; our tips are in buying wild mushrooms at markets.

Autumn is the peak season for mushroom poisonings in Turkey, when rain brings mushrooms up in the Black Sea, Marmara and Aegean forests, and local news regularly reports family poisonings after a foraged meal. Restaurant dishes made with cultivated mushrooms carry no such risk.

Prevention is easier than treatment

Almost all mushroom poisonings come from wild mushrooms that were picked without being identified. These are our rules: we never eat a mushroom we cannot identify with certainty, we do not trust local names or "we always eat these in our village", and we never mix species in one basket. Photos of the dangerous species are in our poisonous mushrooms section. If you are not sure, do not eat it.