According to the Daily Mail, when the team of medical staff reached the transverse colon, the unusual guest was spotted. Picture: AFP
Doctors in Missouri were left stunned when a 63-year-old patient underwent a routine colonoscopy.
During the procedure, they found a still-intact fly buzzing around the man’s intestines.
According to the Daily Mail, when the team of medical staff reached the transverse colon, the unusual guest was spotted.
The case study which was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology stated that “it represents a very rare colonoscopic finding.”
When the patient was questioned about what doctors had found, he said he had no idea how the insect made its way into his body.
The Daily Mail reported In very rare case, flies could have laid eggs in fruits and vegetables and then survived the stomach acid and hatched in the intestines.
In the patient’s case it could be possible as he had consumed a pizza and lettuce 24 hours before the procedure.
Surprisingly, there’s a name for the infliction. Called intestinal myiasis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) termed it as the infestation of live human and vertebrate animals with fly (dipterous) larvae.
The CDC reported on a similar case in 1984: “The mother of a 12-month-old Washington girl periodically observed ‘moving worms’ in the child's stool.”
Fly larvae was found in further stool specimens. On further investigation, it was found that the child’s diet included over-ripe bananas which had been hanging from a wire basket in the kitchen - attracting flies.
To avoid intestinal myiasis, experts have advised to wash all fruit and vegetables before consumption.
IOL Lifestyle
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