Doctors in the United States were left puzzled after discovering a fully intact house fly inside a man’s intestines during a routine colonoscopy. The surprising finding was reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology and occurred when a 63-year-old man underwent a colon screening in Missouri.
The colonoscopy proceeded as normal until the doctors reached the transverse colon, the top part of the large intestine, where they found a completely intact fly. The doctors from the University of Missouri School of Medicine expressed their astonishment in the journal, stating that this was an extremely rare discovery and it remains a mystery how the fly ended up in the transverse colon.
The patient, whose identity has not been disclosed, was equally bewildered by the finding and had no idea how the insect entered his body. He informed the doctors that he had only consumed clear liquids before the procedure and had eaten pizza and lettuce two days prior, but he could not recall seeing a fly on any of the food he consumed. The man did not exhibit any symptoms suggesting he had ingested the fly, according to the doctors.
In the journal, the medical team wrote that the fly was not moving on its own or in response to manipulation with the scope. Additionally, Matthew Bechtold, the chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Missouri, confirmed in an interview with The Independent that the fly was dead.
Mr. Bechtold proposed two possible ways in which the fly could have entered the man’s stomach: through consumption or by entering his rectum. However, he and his colleagues remain uncertain about how the house fly managed to reach the transverse colon. If the fly had entered through the mouth, it would be expected that digestive enzymes and stomach acid would have degraded it. However, the fly was intact, making this scenario less likely.
Alternatively, if the fly had entered through the rectum, it would have required an opening for the fly to go undetected into the colon and navigate its way to the middle part of the large intestine without any light. This possibility also seems unlikely, according to Mr. Bechtold.
Intestinal myiasis is a rare condition in which flies or their larvae infest the human intestines. However, for this to occur, individuals would need to consume food containing fly eggs and larvae. In rare cases, the eggs can survive stomach acid, hatch, and grow inside the body, as stated by the National Library of Medicine.
The discovery of a fully intact house fly inside a man’s intestines has left doctors with more questions than answers. Further research and investigation are needed to shed light on this peculiar case.
