This is the deadly mushroom that was used to kill 3 people in Australia: All you need to know about the death cap

It takes just half a death cap mushroom to kill a person. Its toxicity has been known to people since ancient times and a go-to for those with malevolent intentions.

As was the case with Erin Patterson, an Australian women from Leongatha who was found guilty of deliberately killing three family members with a laced Beef Wellington.

The deadliest mushroom in the world

The death cap (Amanita phalloides) is considered the deadliest mushroom in the world, responsible for 90 percent of mushroom-related deaths. This is partly due to the difficulty of distinguishing it from other edible mushrooms. This lethal mushroom has a pale yellow cap and white gills.

Originally from Europe, it has spread to every continent except Antarctica on the roots of imported trees. The invasive species has been able to adapt to its new surroundings surprisingly quickly, forming symbiotic relationships with new types of trees. At the same time its cocktail of poisons have been evolving as well.

How does the death cap kill?

The most lethal toxin in the death cap mushroom is alpha-amanitin. Once ingested “alpha-amanitin is absorbed through the intestines into the bloodstream and travels to the liver,” explains NewScientist. It then takes up residence in the gall bladder.

When a person who has ingested a death cap recovers from the initial poisoning, they may decide to eat again, which causes the gall bladder to release bile along with alpha-amanitin which circulates through the body again. At the same time sickening the person again.

“Apparent improvement is often followed by features of acute liver failure, hypoglycaemia, coma and clotting disorders,” explained James Coulson, a clinical pharmacologist and toxicologist at Cardiff University in the UK.

While it can be fatal, there are antidotes. And even without one, roughly 90 percent of people that are poisoned by death cap mushrooms survive. Still around 100 people die from death cap poisoning each year.

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