Officials in California are urging people not to forage for wild mushrooms after a rise in poisoning cases caused at least one death.

The California Poison Control System has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning clustered in northern California, likely resulting from death cap mushrooms, the state’s department of public health said.

The poisoning resulted in severe liver damage in several people, including children, and at least one of the patients may need a liver transplant, the department said.

Death cap mushrooms can easily be mistaken for safe, edible mushrooms because of their similar taste, smell, and appearance.

The confirmed cases happened between mid-November and early December, a rainy season in the region that creates ideal conditions for the deadly variety to grow, mostly near oaks and hardwood trees like pine trees, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) said.

Though the cases are mostly in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay area of Northern California, the risk is statewide, the department warned.

“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” Dr Erica Pan, CDPH Director and State Public Health Officer, said in a statement. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible safe mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”

The death cap mushroom is never safe to eat, even if it is boiled, dried, frozen or cooked.

Eating the deadly mushrooms can cause watery diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and dehydration within six to 24 hours – and although symptoms may initially wane, severe or fatal liver damage can still occur up to eight days later.

“Only people with extensive training and experience should eat wild mushrooms that they have picked themselves,” Dr Edward Moreno, County of Monterey Health Officer, said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO — California officials are warning foragers after an outbreak of poisoning linked to wild mushrooms that has killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in several patients, including children.

The state poison control system has identified 21 cases of amatoxin poisoning, likely caused by death cap mushrooms, the health department said Friday. The toxic wild mushrooms are often mistaken for edible ones because of their appearance and taste.

“Death cap mushrooms contain potentially deadly toxins that can lead to liver failure,” Erica Pan, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “Because the death cap can easily be mistaken for edible safe mushrooms, we advise the public not to forage for wild mushrooms at all during this high-risk season.”

One adult has died and several patients have required intensive care, including at least one who might need a liver transplant.

Officials advise against wild mushroom foraging

Wet weather fuels the growth of death cap mushrooms, and officials warn against any wild mushroom foraging to avoid confusion. Residents in central California’s Monterey County became ill after eating mushrooms found in a local park, according to county health officials. Another cluster of cases were in the San Francisco Bay Area, but state health officials warned that the risk is everywhere.

There were more than 4,500 cases of exposure to unidentified mushrooms logged at America’s Poison Centers in 2023, according to their National Poison Data System annual report. Roughly half were in young children, who experts warn may pick and eat a mushroom while playing outside.

California’s poison control system sees hundreds of cases of wild mushroom poisonings each year. The death cap mushroom and the “destroying angel” mushroom look and taste similar to edible mushrooms, so experts warn that a mushroom’s color is not a reliable way of detecting its toxicity. And whether it is eaten raw or cooked does not matter.

Symptom improvement is not an all-clear

People can have stomach cramping, nausea, diarrhea or vomiting within 24 hours after ingesting a toxic mushroom. Though gastrointestinal symptoms may improve, health officials warn that patients can still develop serious complications, including liver damage, that surface later.

People looking for guidance on diagnosing or treating mushroom poisoning can contact the poison control hotline at 1-800-222-1222.

In Frank Gehry’s world, no building was left untilted, unexposed or untouched by unconventional material. The Canadian-American architect, who died in his Los Angeles home at 96, designed a career around defying what was predictable and pulling in materials that were uncommon and, as such, relatively inexpensive.

Gehry collaborated with artists to turn giant binoculars into an entryway of a commercial campus, and paid homage to a writer’s past as a lifeguard by creating a livable lifeguard tower. And while dreaming this up, he transformed American architecture along the way.

Below, take a look at how his work wrapped around and shaped the neighborhoods and urban centers of California.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

With its stainless steel waves rolling on a corner of Downtown Los Angeles, the Walt Disney Concert Hall has become an integral part of this urban center. Lillian Disney gifted the hall to the city and to pay tribute to her late husband’s commitment to the arts. Gehry built the music hall from the inside out, designing it around how music was to be heard within its walls with a team of acousticians.

While the hall’s exterior has free-forming waves and Gehry’s touch of unconventional geometry, the interior is surprisingly symmetrical – an intentional contrast. “The reason I made Disney Hall symmetrical was because I knew that I was a very suspect architect for a building like that by the general public,” Gehry told the Getty. “Everybody is going to think I’m going to do a Thing. So I decided to give them a comfort zone.”

Gehry house

Gehry pruned this Dutch colonial bungalow in Santa Monica down to its original wooden bones and, in 1978, built around it intricate layers of glass, exposed plywood, corrugated metal, and chain-link fencing. The home is considered one of his earliest works of deconstructivist architecture, with large tilting windows that allow the outside world to peer into the home’s internal, seemingly unfinished structure. Gehry continued to add to this residence until 1992.

Binoculars Building

First commissioned as a commercial office building in Venice for advertising agency Chiat/Day, this bold design has become one of Gehry’s most recognizable works in Los Angeles, thanks to its towering entryway that looks exactly like what it is: a giant pair of binoculars. This 44-foot feature was actually designed and created by his collaborators, artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Gehry designed the 79,000 sq ft campus to have a tree-like metal canopy facade on the south of the binoculars, with a bright-white ship-like exterior to the north. Google has occupied the building since 2011, though it is currently on sale for the first time in 30 years for an undisclosed price.

Norton residence

When artists hire artists to design a home, places like the Norton residence pop into existence on Venice Beach’s famed Ocean Front Walk. Inspired by photos of his Santa Monica home, Lynn and William Norton, an artist and writer respectively, hired Gehry to bring this eclectic deconstructivist beachfront home to life in the 1980s. Gehry’s design plays with contrasting sizes of stucco and concrete boxes, heights and shapes, making chaos seem like a cohesive, colorful whole. At the forefront of the property is Gehry’s version of a lifeguard tower in the shape of a one-room studio standing on a single pillar, an apparent nod to William Norton’s former life as a lifeguard.

Loyola Marymount University Law School

Gehry was chosen to redesign the law school for Loyola Marymount University in 1979 because, unlike other architects who presented plans for a big building, Gehry proposed a collection of smaller buildings designed around a plaza. Robert Benson, a member of the committee who selected Gehry’s design, said the committee “squabbled” with the architect over his strange but signature choice of materials and angles, including sheet metal-wrapped Roman columns, chainlink fences or the peculiar angling of a building. Gehry won most of the squabbles, as Benson recalls it, and the result is a village-like complex of contemporary buildings, bold shapes, bright yellows and at least one oversized chainlink structure.