Halt

Death caps are unassuming mushrooms: the door-knob-sized fungi have a pale green, white or bronze cap; white gills and a silky, skirt-like membrane. The mushroom is said to be pleasant tasting, so when its deadly effects set in 6 to 72 hours later, they often come as a surprise. The mushroom’s amatoxin poison enters the liver through the intestinal tract, where it binds to and inactivates enzymes used to make new proteins. With protein production now halted, the liver begins to die, causing nausea and diarrhoea, often followed by rapid organ failure, coma and death.