HE GUOXIU, 45, a worker with Baolongda Information and Technology Co. in Gongming, Guangming New Area, remains hospitalized and may still be unaware that the mushrooms she and her husband collected from a mountain were poisonous.

    Nearly a week after they consumed the wild fungi, He remains in a coma, while her husband, Tan Jinlong, 45, a native of Hunan Province, was again able to speak. Doctors said He’s condition is life-threatening while Tan, who actually ate more than his wife, remained in serious condition.

    The couple, with two teenage children back in their hometown in Hunan, went hiking on Mount Wutong, Shenzhen’s highest peak, April 13. They collected around 500 grams of mushrooms and later cooked those with dinner. The following day they had a second meal which included the mushrooms. The couple fell ill and began vomiting April 15.

    They sought treatment at Guangming People’s Hospital, but their condition continued to deteriorate even after taking medicine as prescribed by doctors.

    The couple was eventually rushed to Peking University Shenzhen Hospital where they were both diagnosed with liver and kidney failure. Both fell into a coma. Tan returned to consciousness while He remains on life support in a deep coma.

    According to doctors, the couple may have eaten amanita verna, a very common poisonous mushroom found in the undeveloped fields and mountains of Shenzhen.

    “Before we ate them, we hesitated for fear of poisoning. We both had experience eating wild mushrooms in our hometown when we were children. We finally couldn’t resist the temptation,” said Tan, a porter with Shenzhen Tonghe Packaging Factory.

    Before dinner his wife was the first to try the mushrooms. She felt nothing unusual. Tan even joked that he would eat more than his wife because they may be poisonous.

    For hospital expenses the family has so far paid about 100,000 yuan, which they borrowed from friends and relatives.

    April is the high season for mushroom poisoning. Earlier this month three members of a family in Dongguan died after they ate poisonous mushrooms. In April last year, one person died and four were badly poisoned in two separate cases in Shenzhen. Last year in Dongguan six people died from mushroom poisoning.

    (Han Ximin)