Mushrooms kill 10 in Mexico

Published 9:00 pm Friday, August 4, 2006

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico – A 7-year-old boy and his father died Friday, bringing to 10 the number of people killed after eating poisonous mushrooms in Mexico’s Chiapas state.

All 10, from the same Indian family in the community of Tenejapa, had eaten a soup made with wild mushrooms gathered deep in the mountains of Chiapas. Eight other relatives died earlier in the week.

Wild mushrooms flourish during the rainy season in the jungles of Chiapas, and are a common dietary staple for many Indian families.