Doctors at a hospital in New Delhi, India, were shocked to find a live 3-centimeter cockroach in the small intestine of a patient complaining of stomach ache and indigestion.
A 23-year-old man recently came to the Fortis Hospital, Vasal Kunj, to complain about stomach problems that he had been experiencing for about three days. He complained of severe abdominal pain, and difficulty in digesting food which resulted in frequent bloating. The man had consumed street food at a night market a few days prior and suspected that to be the cause of his health problems. Doctors decided that the best course of action was to conduct an Upper Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy, a procedure that examines the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract, to hopefully discover the cause of the man’s symptoms. What they certainly didn’t expect to find was a live cockroach chilling in the man’s small intestine.
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“For the last two-three days, the patient was suffering from indigestion and bloating after eating food. It was during routine inspections that we incidentally spotted the cockroach,” Dr Shubham Vatsya told the Indian Express newspaper. “Even we were surprised as to how the cockroach managed to remain intact.”
After discovering the live bug inside the patient’s body, the team of doctors decided to remove it using an endoscope with two channels — one for air and water infusion and the other for air suction.
“We activated the suction button on the scope, effectively sucking the cockroach into the suction channel, leading to its removal from the body and saving the man’s life,” said Dr Vatsya explained, adding that failing to remove the insect as fast as possible could have caused serious complications, including infectious diseases.
As for how the 3cm cockroach wound up in the poor man’s intestines, the Indian gastroenterologist speculated that it could have crawled down his throat while he slept, or the man accidentally swallowed it when visiting the night market.
While unusual, this case is not unique. In fact, just last month, we wrote about a Chinese man who accidentally swallowed a cockroach and complained of bad breath for three days.
