Strange Things That Grow Inside the Body
Your body is not only a temple, but also a motel that hosts some surprising guests. By Linda Wasmer Andrews for MSN Health & Fitness
What’s growing inside you? You might not know it, but your body could be playing host to fascinating variety of living things, including maggots, worms, fleas or, rarely, a plant. Even pregnant women, who think they know what’s growing in their bellies, may be in for a big surprise when a baby develops outside the uterus or a fetus winds up inside its twin. Following are some of the remarkable things that can grow inside the human body. (Bing: Weird growths in the body)
Lung horticulture
You’ve heard of a pea-brain? It might be time to coin a new expression: pea lung. Ron Sveden of Massachusetts arrived at the hospital this past Memorial Day weekend expecting the worst. Already suffering from COPD, Sveden had seen his health take a recent turn for the worse. X-rays showed an ominous dark spot on his left lung—but then a biopsy came up negative for cancer. When doctors performed surgery to check things out, they found a half-inch high pea plant sprouting inside the man’s lung. Apparently, an uncooked pea that went down the wrong pipe had sprouted in the warm, moist lung environment.
It’s a rare occurrence, but not as farfetched as it sounds, says Marc Siegel, MD, an internist and associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine. Siegel notes that people with COPD often get infections caused by funguses, which are similar to plants. Plus, “someone gasping for air is more likely to [inhale] a pea in the first place.”
