Amanita Verna - Toxicity

Toxicity

Closely related to other deadly pure white amanitas, the fool's mushroom is one of the most poisonous mushrooms in the world. Just like the death cap, it contains amatoxins, primarily alpha-amanitin, which can cause liver failure. While this mushroom also contains other poisons like phallotoxins, these toxins are not behind the fatal poisoning that this mushroom, as well as all members of the subfamily Phalloideae, causes.

This mushroom's toxicity and symptoms are similar, if not identical to that of the death cap. Like other members of the subfamily Phalloideae, the fool's mushroom has been implicated in a number of serious or fatal poisonings.

There are no negative symptoms from eating this fungus until 6–24 hours after ingestion. The first symptom is simply unease. Violent cramps and diarrhea follow. On the third day, the same symptoms repeat themselves, but while to many this may seem like a sign of recovery, most of the time it is simply a herald of the final onset of symptoms, which include kidney and liver failure due to amatoxins. At this point, drastic measures like liver transplants need to be taken, or the victim would most likely die.

The fatal dosage of this mushroom is around 30g (1 oz), though it is not recommended taking even the smallest amount of any deadly amanita, as the fatal dosage varies with the size of the person who consumes the mushroom.