Hong Kong hospitals using DNA technology to identify poisonous mushroom species in patients, prevent unnecessary tests and cut costs
- Toxicology expert says hospitals sometimes do not know what mushroom type has caused poisoning, which can lead to unnecessary tests
- Doctor says more than 380 types of fungi in Hong Kong; most inedible and eight to 10 poisoning cases logged every year
Hong Kong public hospitals are using sophisticated DNA sequencing to pinpoint poisonous species of wild mushrooms to avoid unnecessary tests and cut costs.
He added mushrooms could also be unidentifiable when they had been cooked, diced, or where they belonged to a species rare in Hong Kong.
“This service allows our clinical doctors to be more confident in treating the patients and take fewer wrong turns when identifying the mushrooms,” Chong said.
“It provides us additional information about the poisoning on top of using traditional methods. When we can identify the exact type of fungus, we can inform our citizens and government so that they can make improvements to the situation.”
Chong highlighted that the technology offered precise identification, which saved time and expense.
