Mushroom Poisoning Workshop 2017

Mushroom Poisoning Workshop 2017: Identification and Management

Venue: Kompleks Pakar dan Rawatan Harian, Hospital Kuala Lumpur

Date: 13 November 2017

Co-organized by Mushroom Research Centre, University of Malaya and Emergency Department, HKL

Supported by: UMCares, UM

Mushroom Poisoning Workshop was organized in collaboration with Mushroom Research Centre University of Malaya (MRCUM) and Emergency Department, Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).   This workshop aims to increase awareness on poisonous mushrooms especially to the doctors, emergency department staff, health officers, nurses and other health professionals. This is due to the fact that mushroom poisoning incidence has been increasing year by year. MRCUM and HKL would like to take this opportunity to collaborate with other agencies and institutions in managing mushroom poisoning incidence in the future.

Welcome speech by Prof. Dr. Norzulaani Khalid (left), the Director of UMCares. This project is supported by the community research grant by UMCares. The workshop was launched by the Deputy Director of HKL, Dr Kuldip Kaur.

The workshop started with a talk on the “Principles of Poisoning Management” given by Datin Dr. Ranjini S., from Emergency Department, Hospital Klang. She gave a brief explanation on the clinical examination and routine investigations that can be done to identify and treat most poisonings incidence.  Doctor A’aisah Senin from Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health, gave a talk on the public health management of mushroom poisoning. 

  Mushroom poisoning management. Left: Datin Dr. Ranjini S (E.D. Hospital Klang)   Right: Doctor A’aisah Senin (Disease Control Division, Ministry of Health)

Next, Dr Tan Yee Shin (Institute of Biological Sciences, UM) from MRC gave a talk on the identification of fungi and recognition of both edible and poisonous mushroom. Dr Phan Chia Wei (Department of Anatomy, UM), the project leader, introduced several Malaysian grown and non-Malaysian grown culinary and medicinal mushrooms. He also discussed about the myths, dos and don’ts of mushroom foraging. The participants were given hands-on activity in which they have to identify edible/medicinal and poisonous/nonpoisonous mushrooms, and grouped them based on their categories.

"Know your mushroom" talk and hands-on. Left (Top): Dr Tan Yee Shin (MRC, University of Malaya). Right (Top): Dr. Phan Chia Wei (MRC, University of Malaya

The event continued with a forum session on mushroom poisoning – current scenario & future directions. The forum was moderated by Datuk Alzamani Idrose and the panelists consisted of Datin Dr. Ranjini S. Dr. A’aisah Senin, Dr. Anisah Adnan, and Prof. Dr. Vikineswary. All panelists gave their perspective on mushroom poisoning scenario mainly on the management of the cases based on their field of expertise. Overall, they agreed that the main challenge in handling these cases is to identify the poisonous mushroom for several reasons: 1) often, patients came to emergency department without the samples. 2) If patients did bring in the samples, health officers do not know whom can they go to for mushroom identification.

Forum session on mushroom poisoning. From left: Datuk Alzamani Idrose (HKL), Prof. Vikineswary S. (MRCUM), Dr. A’aisah Senin, Datin Dr. Ranjini S, Dr. Anisah Adnan.

The last sharing session focused on how the doctors from emergency departments managed the mushroom poisoning cases they encountered. All of them talked about the procedure they have taken when the patients first stepped into the emergency department, the examination and diagnosis they did later on and also the treatment given to the patients.

 Mushroom poisoning case studies by the ED doctors. Upper from left: Dr. Baran P. (ED, Hospital Kuala Lumpur), Dr. Zainal Abidin Ismail (ED, Hospital Kuantan), Dr. Thinagaraj S. (ED, Hospital Kuala Pilah). Bottom from left: Dr. Ruth Sabrina Safferi (ED, Hospital Klang), Dr. Anisah Adnan (ED, Hospital Malacca)

There's a darker side to mushrooms. The story behind the collaboration between Mushroom Research Centre, University of Malaya with Emergency Department, Hospital Kuala Lumpur. More info in The Petri Dish, October 2017, page 4. (Read full story here)

Photo time! Thank you for participating in our first ever mushroom poisoning workshop!