With wild mushroom hunting season in full swing, local officials and experts are warning that a large fruiting of a deadly mushroom is sweeping across Monterey County, the Santa Cruz Mountains and Bay Area regions, and has resulted in an alarming spike in poisonings.
The Monterey County Public Health Department released a statement urging foragers to avoid eating wild mushrooms, in response to a recent increase in hospitalizations.
“Some poisonous wild mushrooms look and smell like edible types of mushrooms,” Dr. Edward Moreno, Monterey County health officer, said in a release. But the issue has worsened.
According to another statement shared Friday from the California Department of Public Health, the California Poison Control System has identified 21 cases of wild death cap mushroom poisonings in Monterey County and in the broader Bay Area since the advisory was released. Several patients required admission to an intensive care unit and two may require liver transplants, including a young child. There has been one confirmed adult death as of Friday, according to the CDPH.
“Californians should be strongly discouraged from foraging wild mushrooms at this time,” the state agency wrote in its release. The poisonings have occurred among people who pick the alluring fungus directly from locations in the wild as opposed to trusted commercial growers or sellers.”
Also on Friday, Santa Cruz County Public Health Officer Dr. Lisa Hernandez confirmed the rise in poisonings in Monterey County in a public health alert and said some of the patients have sought care in Santa Cruz County facilities.
Dr. Todd Mitchell, a longtime local physician who specializes in treating mushroom poisonings, said since late November, mycologists have spotted an abundance of death caps, or Amanita phalloides, sprouting from the soil. Instances of ingestion have, predictably, followed suit.
“This is a very dangerous period of time right now,” said Mitchell. “We recommend that people not go foraging for mushrooms right now.”
Mitchell explained that death caps are an invasive mushroom from Europe that contain a lethal toxin called amatoxin that attacks the liver and kidneys.
Though they are typically rare to find, death caps can bloom in high numbers when conditions are right and commonly grow under oak trees. They exhibit a greenish-gray cap, white gills and a large white sac at the base of a hefty stem.
“The death caps have an appearance that is very, very difficult to distinguish from safely edible and coveted mushrooms,” said Mitchell. “It’s really easy to happen and when there’s a huge fruiting of death caps like we’re having right now, we generally see a lot of cases here in California, and we’re seeing more cases than we’ve ever seen before.”
Mitchell said in the past five decades, there have been at least four other notable surges of wild death cap growth and poisonings within the region, always during the December or January months. But the number of poisonings in this ongoing event are unprecedented, he said, and outpace the totals experienced in at least 50 years.
Phil Carpenter, science adviser of the Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, said he too has noticed the massive proliferation of death caps in recent weeks and has heard of the poisonings. Carpenter, an experienced mushroom hunter, said his foraging advice is simple, but should be followed fastidiously.
“If you don’t know what it is, just don’t eat it,” he said. “It’s like you’re taking an exam. You know the answer and you write it down; you’re sure it’s right. Well, if you’re going to put it in your mouth and swallow it, it’s a little bit more sure than that. You gotta really know what it is.”
Carpenter, who teaches classes on mushrooms, explained that early wet conditions followed by warmer weather create peak conditions for a whole variety of mushrooms to poke their heads out of the dirt. But which varieties pop up and where can be hard to predict.
He said that the current wave of death cap sightings is the largest he’s seen in a long time, but he’s experienced a few comparable surges over the years, though it remains hard to pinpoint specific areas where they consistently grow.
“I’ve seen them in areas I’ve never seen them before (this year),” Carpenter added.
The hallmark of amatoxin poisoning, Mitchell said, is delayed vomiting and diarrhea that can begin as many as six hours or more after ingestion.
Years ago, Mitchell, alongside pharmacist Glenn Robbins, devised what is now known as the “Santa Cruz protocol,” or a system for treating amatoxin poisonings. The protocol, as Mitchell described it, involves sustained and aggressive hydration, no eating or entry of any bile into the gut as well as intravenous injection of silibinin, a natural compound derived from milk thistle extract.
But Legalon SIL, silibinin’s trade name, is only available on an emergency basis, Mitchell continued, and is not stocked on the West Coast. As a result, Mitchell said during this recent rise in poisonings, treatment has included draining the gallbladder not long after admittance, which has had helped produce favorable results. Still, toxins from the deadly mushrooms are powerful and these treatments, even if given early, are no guarantee that liver failure will be prevented, he said.
The CDPH included extensive guidance to health care providers and public health officials in its statement, which can be found online at cdph.ca.gov.
State officials noted that death cap toxins cannot be removed by boiling, cooking or drying the mushrooms before consumption. Patients who have recovered often recount how delicious the mushrooms tasted, both Mitchell and Carpenter said, but the satisfying flavor shouldn’t be mistaken for safety.
According to Hernandez’s alert, health care providers can consult with California Poison Control by calling 1-800-222-1222. Mushroom toxicity cases can be reported to the county’s Communicable Disease Unit by calling 831-454-4114 during business hours. Providers should call 831-471-1170 outside of normal business hours.
Even when this acute period of extreme risk passes and locals go back on the hunt, mushroom enthusiasts said foragers should still not let their guard down.
Ethan Ramsey, a recent UC Santa Cruz graduate, said he consults various resources, like iNaturalist, identification books, Facebook groups and the local Fungus Federation to safely identify mushrooms.
“It is important to check with multiple people before you consume,” said Ramsey.
While consulting multiple sources to identify a single mushroom may seem redundant, differentiating between a poisonous mushroom and an edible one requires knowledge and attention to detail that can sometimes evade even a well-experienced forager.
Carpenter noted that the difference between species can sometimes be as little as a fold in their gills.
“And that’s critically important because some species are poisonous and some are edible,” he said. “A little bit of knowledge sometimes gets people in trouble.”
The Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz, in partnership with the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, will host a fungus fair from Jan. 9-11, 2026, at London Nelson Community Center.
The fair, attended by thousands each year, will feature nationally and locally renowned expert speakers along with a wide variety of mushrooms and mushroom-themed arts and crafts. Visit ffsc.us for information.
