In certain situations, people might wish they could be a fly on the wall – but perhaps not an intestinal wall inside a man’s digestive system.
However, this is precisely where an unfortunate insect found itself.
The strange discovery came to light when a 63-year-old patient underwent a routine colon screening in Missouri.
The colonoscopy appeared to be going as planned until the doctors reached the transverse colon in the large intestine and encountered a completely intact fly.
Matthew Bechtold, the chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Missouri, informed The Independent that he and his colleagues prodded the fly and confirmed that it was dead.
The patient was shocked by the discovery and had no idea how the insect ended up in his body.
He informed the doctors he had only consumed clear liquids before his procedure and two days before, he had eaten pizza and lettuce – but had no recollection of a fly being on any of the food he consumed. He had no symptoms to indicate he had ingested it.
The fly was prodded but did not move
(American Journal of Gastroenterology)
The findings, published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, presented a “highly unusual colonoscopy finding and a mystery as to how the intact fly ended up in the transverse colon”.
Mr. Bechtold suggested a couple of possible ways in which the fly may have found its way to its final resting place – through consumption or by entering through the rectum – yet he and his colleagues remain uncertain.
He stated that if the fly had entered through the patient’s mouth, “one would think that upper digestive enzymes and stomach acid would have degraded the fly. However, the fly was intact, making this hypothesis less likely”.
“If it came from the bottom, an opening must have been created long enough for the fly to enter the colon undetected and somehow travel to the middle part of the colon in the absence of light in a very tortuous large intestine.”
He added, “However, this also seems unlikely.”
Previous incidents documented in the journal have shown other rare cases where insects have remained intact throughout their journey into the digestive system. In some cases, flies and larvae have entered the human body and infested the intestines, a condition known as intestinal myiasis.
Insects can deposit eggs onto food, which is then consumed by a human and, in rare instances, survive stomach acid and the gastrointestinal environment, as stated by the National Library of Medicine.
In cases where larvae have been found in patients’ stool, they have experienced symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention does not track cases of intestinal myiasis, but it does mention a specific case in 1984 where a one-year-old child experienced “moving worms” in her stool after consuming over-ripe bananas.
At that time, the doctors did not prescribe any medication, but instead advised the parents to protect their fruit from flies. The “moving worms” then ceased to appear.
