Abstract
Four individuals mistook Podostroma cornu-damae for Cordyceps sobolifera and reported diarrhoea and vomiting after consuming the toxic mushroom. All symptoms resolved within four days. However, leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, depilation, and desquamation appeared later, and one patient was diagnosed with sepsis. All patients received granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and blood transfusions in an isolated aseptic room, and they recovered without complications. Podostroma cornu-damae is a poisonous mushroom containing trichothecene. This mushroom is not well known and is easy to be mistaken for the more common Cordyceps sobolifera sold as a healthy food in East Asia. Podostroma cornu-damae intoxication has characteristic early and delayed symptoms. Early symptoms are mainly gastrointestinal, while delayed symptoms are caused by inhibition of cellular division causing pancytopenia and can lead to death. A case series of Podostroma cornu-damae poisoning was presented, including one complicated case complicated with life-threatening sepsis.