ONE after the other a father, his wife and their two children died from mushroom poisoning after a family dinner.
Samson Phiri, 54, his wife Johanna Mthethwa, 49, and two of their children, Frank, 19, and Angel Mthethwa, 6, were rushed to Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, last Saturday after they became violently ill.
By this past weekend, they had all died, leaving Emanuel, one of the Mthethwa children, reeling in shock.
Emanuel, 17, had a narrow escape after refusing to share the family's dinner that fateful night.
Yesterday, when Sowetan visited the family home in Olievenhoutbosch near Centurion, Emanuel was too distraught to speak about the tragedy.
"It was not the first time they ate mushrooms," said Jeanett Legalamitlwa, a relative.
She said Mthethwa, who was a domestic worker in Randburg, often prepared mushrooms for the family's meals. "I do not know if she always picked mushrooms at her employer's house," said a tearful Legalamitlwa.
She said Angel, a Grade One pupil, was the first to succumb to the deadly poison last week Monday morning. Her mother died a few hours later.
Phiri and Frank died just an hour apart on Saturday morning.
Legalamitlwa said doctors showed Johanna pictures of mushrooms from which she pointed out the ones the family ate.
"The doctor said the family had eaten the most poisonous mushrooms."
According to the University of Cape Town's digital pathology study, most mushroom poisoning deaths are due to Amanita phalloides or the "death cap" mushroom. "These mushrooms are associated with oaks, poplars and pines and occur in Cape plantations such as Tokai and Cecilia . They can be confused with some of the edible mushrooms, and are apparently delicious."
According to the study, the symptoms of mushroom poisoning can include nausea, vomiting, colicky abdominal pain and profuse watery diarrhoea.
These may be followed a day or two later by signs of fulminant liver failure, jaundice, delirium, seizures and coma.
Legalamitlwa said doctors told them they had given the family laxatives in an effort to flush out the poison.
"They also told us that they tied one of [each of] their legs and hands to the bed because they were confused and pulled out their drips," she said.
Legalamitlwa said the family were in the same ward divided by a wall.
"We first walked to the father's bed.
"His eyes were yellow, he was sweating and he could hear us but could not respond.
"He was just kicking his legs and I took that as his way of responding."
"We then moved to Frank's bed. He was resting. He tried to open his eyes and mouth but he could not talk.
"We could smell the poison because the smell was very strong."
She said doctors told them the father and son would not make it past sunset "because there is no cure for poison".
ratsatsip@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Mushrooms kill parents, kids - family ate poisonous supper
ONE after the other a father, his wife and their two children died from mushroom poisoning after a family dinner.
Samson Phiri, 54, his wife Johanna Mthethwa, 49, and two of their children, Frank, 19, and Angel Mthethwa, 6, were rushed to Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, last Saturday after they became violently ill.
By this past weekend, they had all died, leaving Emanuel, one of the Mthethwa children, reeling in shock.
Emanuel, 17, had a narrow escape after refusing to share the family's dinner that fateful night.
Yesterday, when Sowetan visited the family home in Olievenhoutbosch near Centurion, Emanuel was too distraught to speak about the tragedy.
"It was not the first time they ate mushrooms," said Jeanett Legalamitlwa, a relative.
She said Mthethwa, who was a domestic worker in Randburg, often prepared mushrooms for the family's meals. "I do not know if she always picked mushrooms at her employer's house," said a tearful Legalamitlwa.
She said Angel, a Grade One pupil, was the first to succumb to the deadly poison last week Monday morning. Her mother died a few hours later.
Phiri and Frank died just an hour apart on Saturday morning.
Legalamitlwa said doctors showed Johanna pictures of mushrooms from which she pointed out the ones the family ate.
"The doctor said the family had eaten the most poisonous mushrooms."
According to the University of Cape Town's digital pathology study, most mushroom poisoning deaths are due to Amanita phalloides or the "death cap" mushroom. "These mushrooms are associated with oaks, poplars and pines and occur in Cape plantations such as Tokai and Cecilia . They can be confused with some of the edible mushrooms, and are apparently delicious."
According to the study, the symptoms of mushroom poisoning can include nausea, vomiting, colicky abdominal pain and profuse watery diarrhoea.
These may be followed a day or two later by signs of fulminant liver failure, jaundice, delirium, seizures and coma.
Legalamitlwa said doctors told them they had given the family laxatives in an effort to flush out the poison.
"They also told us that they tied one of [each of] their legs and hands to the bed because they were confused and pulled out their drips," she said.
Legalamitlwa said the family were in the same ward divided by a wall.
"We first walked to the father's bed.
"His eyes were yellow, he was sweating and he could hear us but could not respond.
"He was just kicking his legs and I took that as his way of responding."
"We then moved to Frank's bed. He was resting. He tried to open his eyes and mouth but he could not talk.
"We could smell the poison because the smell was very strong."
She said doctors told them the father and son would not make it past sunset "because there is no cure for poison".
ratsatsip@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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