A five-cm long venomous centipede was removed alive from the throat of a woman who had complaints of tickling sensation and discomfort for the last seven days and presumed it was caused by a bone of chicken.

The 55-year-old woman, hailing from Kattapana in Idukki District, had approached the ENT surgeon of the Devamatha Hospital at Koothattukulam on April 25 complaining of tickling sensation and discomfort in her lower throat. She suspected that a bone of chicken, consumed by her a week ago, had got stuck in her throat.

An endoscopic examination revealed the anthropod-Centipede lodged in the hypo pharynx above the upper part of oesophagus, the passage between the pharynx and the stomach. It was caught using forceps and taken out. The doctors were surprised to find it alive despite being in the human body for a week, hospital sources said.