Boy, 7, dies two weeks after eating poisonous mushrooms

The 7-year-old boy who ate poisonous mushrooms died on Friday due to multiple organ failure, despite being given all-out medical treatment for two weeks in an intensive-care unit at the Shandong Provincial Hospital in Jinan, Shandong province, according to the hospital.

The boy moved hundreds of people in the province to donate blood for him after the province's blood center released a call on Sept 6 saying the AB blood bank was not enough to support the boy who needed 3,000 milliliters of blood every day.

Acting on the call, 989 people from across the province rushed to Jinan city to donate 322,200 ml of blood in two days. They included 425 donors who contributed 152,200 ml of AB blood, which replenished the AB blood bank, according to the province's blood center.

"We can't eat just any mushroom that grows in the wild because it's hard for ordinary people to distinguish whether it is poisonous," said Zhang Xingguo, director of poisoning and occupational disease department at the hospital.

"If you have eaten poisonous mushrooms, try to throw up as soon as possible to reduce the absorption of toxins," he said.