What is already known about this topic?

Mushroom poisoning is becoming one of the most serious food safety issues in China, which is responsible for nearly a half of all oral poisoning deaths.

What is added by this report?

In China, many mushrooms were previously “recorded” as poisonous. In this study, about 70 species obtained from mushroom poisoning incidents including several new records were confirmed accurately by morphological and molecular evidence in 2019, and spatial and temporal distribution characters of 13 lethal mushrooms were summarized systematically.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Precise and timely species identification is of pivotal importance in mushroom incidents. More efforts and cooperation are continued to be needed urgently for the governments, CDC staff, doctors and mycologists in future.

What is already known about this topic?

A common food that has been associated globally with rhabdomyolysis syndrome is freshwater fish including freshwater cod, barracuda, buffalo fish, and pomfret. However, cases caused by freshwater fish have been relatively rare in China.

What is added by this report?

In this investigation, a cluster of five cases of rhabdomyolysis syndrome were found that were linked to consumption of carp testes and eggs, one of the first carp-related rhabdomyolysis syndrome cases reported in China.

What are the implications for public health practice?

To avoid similar incidents, food safety education for local residents needs to be prioritized and implemented. In addition, case monitoring of rhabdomyolysis syndrome should be strengthened through more thorough collection of epidemiological data and monitoring of pathogenic foods.