After state sees four deaths and 40 hospitalizations, public health officials and foraging experts urge caution
A wet winter in California has produced a surge of wild fungi – a shroom boom that would typically have foragers cheering. But among the chanterelles and porcinis, a much more dangerous fungus called the death cap – also known as the Amanita phalloides – is causing alarm.
The state health department reports that, between late November 2025 and early February 2026, there have been four deaths and 40 hospitalizations linked to consumption of dangerous mushrooms, an outbreak the department describes as “unprecedented”. That’s far above the average for the state, which typically sees fewer than five mushroom-poisoning cases annually.
The people who have been sickened include a seasonal farm worker couple from Oaxaca, Mexico, and have ranged in age from 19 months to 67 years old, according to the Associated Press. Several people have required liver transplants.
Rudy Diaz, the resident mycologist of the Los Angeles Mycological Society, said the illnesses have put the public on edge. When he was out with a friend last month looking at some mushrooms on the side of the trail, a stranger chided him for doing something “risky,” telling him that he should know people had been recently poisoned by mushrooms.
