The term Mushroom actually refers to the reproductive portion of fungus which grows up from an underground mycelium. Certain species of mushrooms are non-poisonous and used as articles of food. Others are poisonous and cases of accidental poisoning occasionally occur from one of the poisonous ones being mistaken for an edible variety. The most frequent form of mushroom poisoning is caused by a wide variety of gastrointestinal irritants. The symptoms usually appear within 20 minutes to 4 hours of ingesting the mushrooms, and include nausea, vomiting, cramps, and diarrhoea, which normally pass after the irritant had been expelled. Ingestion of even a part of one mushroom of a dangerous species may be sufficient to cause death which may take place in three to six days. The general treatment of mushroom poisoning is symptomatic. We can avoid mushroom poisoning by not eating mushrooms picked from the ground.
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