Paint applied before 1960 is likely to contain a high percentage of lead. In severe cases, convulsions and coma can also occur. The clinical features of chronic lead poisoning may be rather non-specific, including vague aches and pains, behavioural changes, nephritis and peripheral neuropathy. Those affected should contact the GP for blood lead measurements. Most cases of plant ingestion involve children eating berries or houseplant material.
Gastrointestinal irritation is usually all that occurs.
Severe fungi poisoning is also rare, since relatively few species are highly toxic and most species do not contain toxic compounds. There is a latent period of six hours or more between ingestion and the onset of clinical effects with these more toxic species. Therefore any patient with delayed gastrointestinal effects thought to be due to ingestion of a mushroom should be referred immediately to hospital. In most cases, these are early onset gastrointestinal effects due to ingestion of mushrooms containing gastrointestinal irritants. Anyone who has collected wild mushrooms but is unsure of their identity or toxicity should not eat them.