Wild-Mushroom Intoxication as a Cause of Rhabdomyolysis

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Abstract
The growing popularity of eating wild mushrooms has led to an increase in the incidence of mushroom poisoning. Most fatalities are due to amatoxin-containing species, which cause fulminant hepatocytolysis, and to cortinarius species, which lead to acute renal damage. A 1996 report described a patient with hepatic failure, encephalopathy, and myopathy related to the ingestion of Amanita phalloides.1 Since 1992, 12 cases of delayed rhabdomyolysis have occurred in France after meals that included large quantities of the edible wild mushroom Tricholoma equestre.2 The circumstances of these 12 cases clearly implicate T. equestre as the cause. The mushroom was positively identified, and no other cause, such as bacterial, viral, fungal, or immune disease or exposure to a toxin, was found. Three of the 12 patients died.