Poisonous Mushrooms Hospitalize 3

An 8-year-old girl, her mother and a family friend remained hospitalized Wednesday after eating poisonous mushrooms.

The girl, Samantha Mountha, was upgraded Wednesday to satisfactory from serious condition at Children’s Hospital. She was taken off a respirator and breathing on her own, a nursing supervisor said.

Her mother, Chansamone Mountha, 41, and Pilkeo Boryboun, 37, were in serious condition at Harborview Medical Center. Both were on respirators.

Medics were called to the girl’s West Seattle home Tuesday night after her teenage brother called 911 to say his sister suffered what appeared to be a seizure after eating the mushrooms, a Fire Department dispatcher said.

The brother also told authorities his mother and Boryboun had complained of dizziness and pounding headaches. All three had eaten the mushrooms - possibly in soup - the dispatcher said.

A Harborview nursing supervisor said emergency room doctors believed the three had eaten a type of wild mushroom known as Amanita pantherina.

The pantherina variety - also known as the Panther - has toxins that cause coma-like sleep, delirium and raving. In extreme cases, toxins from mushrooms can cause severe liver damage.

There is no antidote for mushroom poisoning.