Destroying Angel

The toxin and how it acts

Amatoxins, mainly alpha-amanitin, are small ring-shaped peptides. They block an enzyme called RNA polymerase II, so cells cannot make messenger RNA and then protein, and liver cells die. [2][3] Alpha-amanitin is described as heat-stable. [2] Destroying angels also contain phallotoxins in the lab literature (see the lab section), but a 2024 review says phallotoxins are mainly toxic when injected. [3] For the detailed toxicology of amatoxin, read the death cap page rather than repeating it here.

Symptom timeline

The reviews give slightly different times, because patients differ. The pattern is the same. [2][3]

The apparent recovery is the dangerous part: feeling better does not mean the poison has gone. A fatal 2011 A. bisporigera case in New York began with symptoms 9 hours after the meal; the woman felt better the next morning, then collapsed that afternoon and died despite intensive care. [4] A 2015 Canadian case began about 12 hours after eating, and the woman needed an urgent liver transplant and recovered. [5] Authors of one case say a short wait (under 8 hours) before stomach symptoms has been linked to worse outcomes, but their own patient had 9 hours and still died, so it is not a rule. [4]

Treatment as described by the sources

There is no simple antidote, and the sources describe treatment as supportive care in hospital. [2][3][5] Poison-centre and hospital teams may use activated charcoal early, fluids, and the medicines silibinin and N-acetylcysteine; reviews call these the most promising but note the evidence is small or retrospective, and a 2024 review says dosing is not standardised. [2][3] A liver transplant is the only treatment the reviews say has a recognised survival benefit in poor-prognosis cases. [2][3] Do not treat anyone at home; follow the poison centre's instructions, as set out on the urgent-help page.

How dangerous is it?

Reported deaths in amatoxin poisoning have fallen over time. One 2014 review gives 20 to 30 percent in adults historically and under 10 percent in more recent reports, with about 20 percent of survivors developing chronic hepatitis. [2] A 2024 review gives 10 to 20 percent overall. [3] These figures are for amatoxin poisoning in general, mostly death cap, not for destroying angel alone. A 2011 case report says four A. bisporigera deaths were reported in North America over about 30 years. [4] In a North American poison report for 2017, three toddlers who ate what was reported as A. bisporigera were in hospital within two hours and had no symptoms at last report; two dogs also died from a similar group. [7]

What it is mistaken for in poisoning reports

Published reports name these cases of confusion, with no help on telling them apart:

• A woman who believed she was picking a lawn mushroom (Leucoagaricus naucinus) ate a destroying angel (A. virosa, most likely A. bisporigera) and died; the toxicologist who reported it noted she had checked a mushroom book first. [6]
• California public-health reports in 2026 say western destroying angels have been mistaken for young puffballs or other safe species, in a season with 47 amatoxin cases, 4 deaths and 4 liver transplants (November 2025 to May 2026, all amatoxin species). [8]
• A 2015 case report notes that mushroom poisoning often follows mistaking a toxic mushroom for an edible one, including by people used to different species in another country. [5]

If you gather edible mushrooms such as field mushroom or giant puffball, the safe route is a local expert who checks every one in person, or buying mushrooms from a shop. Even experienced gatherers can have trouble. [1]

Lab data and chemistry

A. What the laboratory literature reports in this mushroom. Wikidata (LOTUS) lists 14 compounds for A. bisporigera, 26 for A. virosa and 14 for A. ocreata, all toxic peptides. [9] "Listed" means reported in at least one study of that species, not present in every mushroom.

The sources read do not describe the virotoxins' effect in people; only the amatoxin story is documented above. The Wikidata entries carry no paper references in our copy.

B. Measured values. Two sources give amatoxin content; they disagree widely and neither states fresh or dry basis, so treat them as examples, not as a safe-or-unsafe line. No USDA entry exists.

C. What the numbers do and do not mean.

• The values differ by more than twenty-fold between sources, so amatoxin content varies a lot between specimens, places and methods.


• How much toxin a person actually ate is almost never known, and a 2024 review notes the reported lethal dose of amanitins ranges widely (0.3 to 20 mg per kg), so these figures give no "safe small amount". [3]


• The Mizoram figures come from an unreviewed dataset; the 2025 paper's table gives single values for three samples.


• A lab value does not tell you whether a mushroom is edible. Do not use these numbers to judge any mushroom.