Kathmandu, May 15 -- Two days ago, 11 members, including nine children of the same family from Jhapa district, fell ill after consuming mushrooms collected from a nearby jungle. Luckily, there was no loss of life as they were immediately rushed to the hospital.

With the monsoon season approaching, experts have warned of a likely rise in cases of poisoning and deaths from consuming wild and toxic mushrooms that sprout in forests and grasslands during the monsoon.

"This is just the start, and people have already started getting ill and hospitalised after eating wild mushrooms," said Dr Hari Prasad Aryal, a mushroom expert. "The number of wild mushroom poisoning cases and deaths will rise in the coming days."

It is estimated that over thr...