Toxic mushrooms kill 11, poison over 800 in Iran

Tehran   :   At least 11 people died and more than 800 others were poisoned after eating toxic wild mushrooms in western Iran, Health Ministry officials said on Monday.

Hundreds more were hospitalized, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. 

A Health Ministry official said that there was no effective treatment against such fungal poisoning. At least two people received liver transplants. 

According to authorities, the poisonous mushrooms looked very similar to edible ones due to which even the locals could not distinguish them.

The poisoning incidents were reported across the Iranian provinces of Kermanshah, Kohgiluye and Boyer-Ahmad, Kordestan, Lorestan, West Azerbaijan, Qazvin and Zanjan. 

People were urged not to buy loose mushrooms and only purchase packed and sealed ones in shops. The deadly fungi grow wild in mountainous regions of Iran's west after spring showers, according to Tasnim news agency.