Poison mushrooms kill 3-year-old boy

A three-year-old boy who was foraging with his family last week in Victoria has died after eating a poisonous wild mushroom.

Vancouver Island’s health authority says the boy died Tuesday night, days after he was transferred to a hospital in Edmonton for treatment.

It’s believed the boy ate a death cap mushroom, but tests are ongoing to confirm the presence of specific toxins in his system.

The death cap resembles the popular paddy straw mushroom; it’s mainly white with a yellowish stem and sometimes bulbous at the base.