7 Horrifying Times That Creepy Crawlies Were Found In The Body During Colonoscopies

Colonoscopies are examinations that are typically used to look for changes in the large intestine and to identify any causes of irregular bowel symptoms. During the procedure, a doctor will usually insert a flexible tube with a camera on the end into the anus and guide it through the rectum and colon.

Often, to prepare for the procedure, a person must follow a bowel preparation regimen. This ensures that little to no fecal matter remains in the large intestine, allowing the doctor to properly examine the lining of the intestine. 

Of course, we are here to talk about the most unexpected and ultra-rare side of colonoscopies – when a creature is found in your colon.   

A cockroach 

Cockroaches are fascinating creatures that seem to be able to survive almost anything – from being decapitated to withstanding intense radiation. 

In one case, there was a 52-year-old woman who underwent a colorectal cancer screening. During the procedure, the medical team discovered a cockroach nymph in the woman’s transverse colon. The cockroach was identified as Blattella germanica, or the German cockroach. Other than this bizarre discovery, the rest of the procedure was considered uncomplicated, and the insect was suctioned out and sent to the laboratory for analysis. 

But why did she have a cockroach in her colon? Well, the German cockroach is a common household pest, and it turned out that the woman had a cockroach infestation in her home. As such, she could have easily ingested the cockroach while eating food, which is nightmare-fueling in any circumstance.  

It’s thought that the reason the cockroach was found intact is because of its exoskeleton. This tough outer shell made it resistant to the human digestive system. 

An ant

There are approximately 20 quadrillion ants on planet Earth, so it’s not all that surprising when these social insects find their way inside a human body. 

That happened to a 66-year-old man who went for a colonoscopy screening. When the medical staff started investigating, they saw a deceased, intact ant in the descending colon. 

When queried about this after he woke up, he mentioned he recently went to a family picnic at a riverside park. While there, he ate several plates of chicken wings and potato salad. Unfortunately for the ant, it must have been scouring around on the food before being accidentally consumed. 

A fly

Did you ever hear of the old woman who swallowed a fly? Well, this case is a bit reminiscent of that fun nursery rhyme. 

During a colonoscopy, an intact fly was found lurking inside a 63-year-old man’s colon. The doctor even prodded the fly, and found that it was not moving at all, so the team suspected that it was probably dead.

As always, it was a mystery how the fly made its way into the colon, as the person had consumed only clear liquid in the days before the procedure. However, two days before the procedure, he had a pizza and lettuce for his evening meal, but did not recall a fly being in his food.  

A bee

Another rare finding in a colonoscopy was the gardener’s friend (but not so much this patient’s friend) – the honeybee. 

The patient was a 78-year-old man who had a history of esophageal cancer and a family history of colon cancer, so he was referred for a screening colonoscopy. 

During the colonoscopy, doctors discovered a 7-millimeter inflammatory polyp in the cecum, which was removed during the procedure. But while the team was exploring the descending colon, a honeybee was also found and removed by suction. 

The patient said that before he underwent the bowel preparation, he was biking and eating grapes, and he could have swallowed the honeybee while on his bike.  

A moth

Another time, there was a case of a 55-year-old male who had a normal colonoscopy. However, nestled in the folds of his transverse colon was a lifeless winged insect. The medical team performing the procedure observed an insect that was approximately 6 millimeters long with a wingspan of 12 millimeters. 

When the team sent the image to an entomologist, it was identified as belonging to the order Lepidoptera. The moth was white and lacked the typical scales that usually cover a moth’s body and wings. It’s thought that the acidic environment of the digestive system caused the removal of the scales. 

According to the authors of the paper, this was the first description of a moth found in the gastrointestinal tract. Exactly how the insect ended up inside the patient remains a mystery.

A yellow jacket

A yellow jacket is a predatory social wasp. For one unlucky 52-year-old male, a colonoscopy examination revealed a surprise guest: a dead yellow Jacket in his descending colon. Unfortunately, the insect was not retrieved. 

The patient denied any knowledge of how this insect had found its merry way into the gastrointestinal tract. However, the authors of the case study suspected that it may have been an accidental ingestion, possibly during the bowel preparation process. He could have unknowingly swallowed the yellow jacket in the pre-procedure cocktail, sending it on a high-speed digestive waterslide straight to the colon.

A ladybug

Back in 2019, there was an unusual case of a ladybug being found in a 59-year-old male patient’s colon. This ladybug was a multicolored Asian-type species Harmonia axyridis, a species that was imported to North America to control pest populations in the 1900s. 

This particular ladybug was found in the transverse colon during a colonoscopy, much to the surprise of the clinical team. It is unknown exactly how this insect was found in the colon, but it is thought that it is partly due to the colonoscopy prep work. It is possible that the laxative cocktail caused the ladybug to whizz past the digestive process, ending up in the transverse colon.

Although most of these incidents are horrific to think about, the lucky thing for the patients (but maybe not the critters found), is that they were not squirming alive in a person’s body – small mercies, ey?