Doctors find fully intact fly inside patient's large intestine

A patient from Missouri underwent a routine colonoscopy—only to find a fly in his large intestine.

The Independent reported that Matthew Bechtold, the chief of Gastroenterology at the University of Missouri, and other doctors came across a fully intact fly and was confirmed dead. They have no idea how it got inside the 63-year-old patient.

The patient said he only consumed clear liquids before the procedure. Two days before, he also ate pizza and lettuce but couldn’t recall whether there was a fly. He had no symptoms to suggest he had ingested it, according to the media outlet.

Though unsure, doctors have theories published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

If the fly entered the patient’s mouth, his stomach acid would’ve degraded it and is, therefore, least likely.

If the fly entered his rectum, an opening must have been created long enough for it to go undetected into the colon and through the middle part with no light, making it unlikely as well.

Doctors also cited rare cases in which insects have remained intact and infested the intestines.

According to the National Library of Medicine, insects can deposit eggs onto food and, in rare cases, survive stomach acid and the gastrointestinal environment.