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Last May, after a few days of rain, a slender white mushroom grew in a front yard in Sarah Hunt’s front yard in western Massachusetts. One afternoon, Hunter’s wife ran into the house panicked. She found their 5-year-old son sitting in the yard with a mouthful of fungus in his mouth, and she immediately picked it up from his mouth. Not sure if he ingested anything-what it means if he ingested-Hunter dialed poison control and obtained a general email address where they could send pictures of the specimen. They were told that the response might take several hours.
“It’s very scary,” Hunter told Vox later. “I have a child with special needs. Everything feels a bit dangerous with him.” They were thinking, “Do we need to go to the emergency room?”
As time passed, Hunter decided to check a Public facebook group Recommended by a friend. A fast-growing global community called Poisons Help; emergency identification of mushrooms and plants to help people identify fungi and plants, and evaluate when someone (or more commonly a pet) ingests or comes into contact with suspicious or unknown toxic species Risk of poisoning.
Poisons Help does not provide professional medical advice, disclaimer. But the organization’s administrators and members said that crowdsourcing efforts do often bring positive recognition. This information can help guide group members to talk to medical experts or wait for their response to determine whether treatment or emergency services are needed.
According to the National Poisons Data System, the United States reports nearly 7,500 known fungal cases via telephone each year on average. However, despite the existence of online databases and mobile identification applications for toxic substances, identifying plants and mushrooms over the phone is particularly tricky due to the location-specific nature of certain species, not to mention the challenges of trying to describe them verbally. Worldwide, There are an estimated 148,000 known fungal species and more than 20,000 ingestible plants, and there may be more yet to be determined.
In an emergency, the poison control center and doctor should be someone’s first contact.Calls to 1-800-222-1222 (a national poison control number that handles 2 million calls per year) will be forwarded to one of more than 50 regional centers in the United States by area code Poison Control Network.
Kelly Johnson-Arbor, medical director of the National Capital Toxicology Center in Washington, DC, said: “Most people who contact us will know about the substances they are exposed to.” But in general, “Identifying plants is really very, very difficult. .”
The Poison Help Group is committed to bridging this gap, forming a lifeline in situations that can become dire, and providing life-saving advice when many people are exposed to more types of plants and fungi than they are used to.Facebook (Very big) problem In addition, Poisons Help is an example of a community that actually helped build a new accessible knowledge base, which is much more convenient than bringing plant or mushroom specimens to experts for identification.
The organization is not without growing pains and internal tensions, but some experts say this is another mode of plant poison control in the future.
How the group takes root
Poisons Help was established in 2018, when a few fungal experts met each other from other mycology-focused Facebook groups, and they gathered to deal with more urgent cases of potential poisoning. Since last summer, the number of global members has increased by approximately 40,000, from 60,000 to more than 100,000, and the group regularly publishes hundreds of posts every month. Members include non-medical personnel as well as veterinarians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals.
“I was shocked by the speed at which I received replies to my posts, and [that I got] Very confident identification,” said Kelsey Carpenter, a veterinary technician, who often recommends this group to people in the California clinic where she works. She recently posted a message on this page for the first time, when the family’s dog ate The mushrooms turned out to be harmless. (Ninety-nine percent of mushrooms are almost non-toxic, according to To the North American Mycological Association, but 1% of highly toxic can cause life-threatening complications in pets. )
“Veterinary care is more difficult to obtain than ever,” Carpenter points to There is a shortage of veterinarians and technicians“Resources like this identification group have become more important.”
Courtesy of Sarah Hunt
Users are required to provide information about geographic location, pet (or human) symptoms and time of ingestion, as well as photos of related plants or mushrooms. In Hunter’s case, they took a picture of the white mushroom that their son used to pop up on his mobile phone and posted it along with their news. “Any ideas?” they asked.
Almost immediately, the administrator began to reply.
“In my opinion, these mushrooms are very similar,” someone said, referring to a non-toxic mushroom that is common all over the world and is known for its white, fluffy mane.
“In my opinion, they are also very similar,” another administrator added.
“Agree, steroids,” the third person echoed.
According to Kerry Woodfield, one of the founders of the organization and based in Cornwall, England, the organization has more than 200 managers who have a good record of identifying plants and mushrooms. Some people were recruited because they participated in more casual identification activities elsewhere on the social media network, and only administrators could comment on the case until the case was closed. “If you don’t know what you are talking about, you can’t participate,” Hunter said. “It’s like the opposite of the Internet.”
All administrators are volunteers engaged in daily work, and they spend their spare time in groups. “The main function is to ensure that we have the best and most accurate identification of panicked people as possible,” Woodfield said.
Many administrators are “on call” to receive notifications of all new posts and initiate identification within a few seconds. “Even if I’m on a busy street outside, I will stop and walk away,” said Octrine Micu, a group manager in the Philippines, to intervene in work.
For more difficult situations, the conversation may be transferred to an administrator-only group. “The advantage of the poison team is that we have a huge global population database,” said Spike Mikulski, an administrator in Rhode Island and an expert on the amanita family. Many of these fungi may be hallucinogenic or toxic under certain conditions. The dosage and depends on the size of the person or animal. “If I am working or sleeping, there will be others.”
Even if there are photos, it is difficult to actively identify the sample, so the administrator may go back to the original poster and ask for it to be cut in half or ask for photos of different parts of the sample. It is this unanimous ID, whether it is a rare mushroom or a common roadside plant, many members say that it provides a unique and reassuring atmosphere.
Once a positive ID is made, the case will be considered “closed” and non-administrators are allowed to comment at this time. After the safe end of the case, one of the administrators regularly prescribed the ultimate drug: a bowl of ice cream.
“There is a lot of burnout”
However, behind the scenes, the group is struggling to cope with its decentralized structure and the difficulties of living on social media platforms.
As we all know, the toughness of some group managers can conflict in their conversations, which may lead to avoiding some people altogether. Woodfield had to intervene occasionally to ease the situation.
The administrator said that another pain point is when new members ignore the release guidelines or try to solve urgent requests by “developing” stories, including stories that were not initially ingested. They may do this because they know that this group is known for quick response, and it may take longer in other ID groups. More importantly, the administrator is worried about the limitations of the platform itself and worried about being shut down. There are inherent problems based on social media, such as not being recognized as a reliable source of information by medical institutions. “One challenge is the legitimacy and perceived legitimacy,” said British dentist, plant and fungus lover admin Aisha Dowlut.
The other founder of the organization, Aleks Tudzarovski, said that if Facebook allows comments from non-administrators to be closed while the case is still pending, the organization’s daily operations may be affected. Has been greatly improved. Tudzarovski said that some posts were incorrectly flagged as inappropriate content by Facebook’s algorithm, and he worried that after reaching a certain number, the group would be automatically closed.
When asked to restrict who can comment on posts, a Facebook representative pointed out to Vox some of the tools the company has introduced for group administrators, such as the ability to restrict comments on posts and restrict participation by specific members. The representative did not comment on posts that were incorrectly marked as inappropriate by Poisons Help members.
Many administrators who have spoken to Vox also mentioned that now we have experienced something that many of us can relate to: burnout. After all, they are unpaid volunteers, and their roles may become a series of cases. “There is a lot of burnout,” Woodfield said, “especially from endless dog posts.” She said that the organization did try to reject some people on the grounds that “this is not an emergency near the mushroom.” Then the members will simply resubmit, saying “My dog must have eaten this.”
But it was the interest in biodiversity that brought many administrators back. “I kind of like its randomness, never know what will happen, and feel stimulated by some new puzzles,” said Debbie Weiss, an administrator and fungal poison consultant based in California. “It’s like a detective. Sometimes you only have a little data, and then you piece them together.”
The future of plant poison control
In a few cases, the identity information provided by the organization was later rejected by healthcare professionals. But Johnson-Aber of the National Capital Poison Center said that in addition to her own research, they will also consider any information provided by the organization. The poison organization democratizes information and provides valuable services to people all over the world.
Mary Metze carried out animal rescue work in Alabama and repeatedly used the information provided by the organization to save lives. She said that before joining, there were a lot of crazy Google image searches and a 3 am emergency veterinary tour. Without this group, she said, “I will have a panic attack.”
Administrators have considered leaving the platform, whether it’s the application or elsewhere. But this means giving up Facebook’s ease of use and global influence. They are also not interested in monetizing what they do, worrying that it will go against the organization’s claims.
Experts from the Poison Center are also considering how to adapt. “Many young people don’t like to call,” Johnson-Arbor said. “They don’t want to be put on hold, or they would rather get answers online.” She imagines that they will have to develop new ways to serve online audiences, such as being able to conduct text conversations on websites, similar to online tools for toxic household substances. Johnson-Arbor usually recommends that people bring plants to the local nursery for identification, but she will contact a local mycologist to help identify the mushrooms.The North American Mycological Association also maintains Mycologist Directory Who can consult.
In Hunter’s case, they eventually got a response in an email stating that the mushroom is indeed non-toxic-until later that night. By then, they already knew so much. Hunter said that within half a minute of posting the mushroom picture their son entered to Poisons Help, five administrators had identified it. The family has nothing to worry about.
“Agree on harmless coprinoids,” an administrator said, as if hitting a gavel. In addition to the ID, they also added a smiling emoji and an image of Kirby. This 90s video game character is known for opening his mouth and inhaling almost everything. In the picture, Kirby is holding a sign that says: CASE CLOSED!
“A huge relief,” Hunter said.
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