A Case of Acute Appendicitis Complicated by Familial Food Poisoning Caused by Poisonous Mushroom

Abstract

We report a rare case of acute appendicitis complicated by familial food poisoning caused by poisonous mushroom. An 11-year-old boy ate mushrooms that were gathered from a mountain, which his family also ate. His mother, brother and the patient experienced nausea and abdominal pain three hours after eating. They monitored themselves for a while, but the next morning, the patient felt severe abdominal pain in the right lower quadrant. The patient then visited our hospital. Blood examination showed a high number of white blood cells. Furthermore, abdominal CT showed enlargement of the appendix and accumulation of ascitic fluid; thus, we diagnosed him as having acute appendicitis, and laparoscopic appendectomy was performed. The appendix was enlarged and reddish; moreover, the ileum became edematous associated with extensive ileitis. An examination of the mushrooms that they ate revealed that they were ‘Tsukiyotake’, which are poisonous. We hypothesized that ileitis caused edema of the ileocecal area and acute appendicitis.