A morphed photo is being shared as a real photo of a Cockroach found in a chest X-ray. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
March 6, 2024
A photo of a live cockroach allegedly found in the chest X-ray of a patient in Kolhapur is doing the rounds on social media. It is being claimed that the patient was advised to undergo surgery in Mumbai, where the doctors found no cockroach and told the patient that the insect had entered the X-ray machine in Kolhapur. Let’s verify this claim through this article.
Claim: Photo of a live cockroach found in a chest X-ray.
Fact: The image in question is  a digitally altered version of an original X-ray image. Mikael Häggström uploaded the original on ‘radlines.org,’ an open-access website for radiologists worldwide. Therefore, the claim in the post is False.
To verify the truthfulness of this viral claim, we initially conducted an online search using appropriate keywords relevant to this incident. However, this search did not provide any credible news reports confirming this incident from Kolhapur.
Next, we performed a reverse image search on the viral image, which directed us to an X-ray photo that resembled the viral photo, minus the cockroach. The image was found on ‘radlines.org,’ a free-access website beneficial for radiologists.
According to the photo’s description, it represents a ‘Posteroanterior chest radiogram’ of a 21-year-old woman who complained of left-sided thoracic pain following a collision during a soccer match. The X-ray depicted a normal chest without any injury signs. This photo was uploaded by Mikael Häggström to ‘radlines.org.’
Thus, it is clear that the viral image is a manipulated version of Häggström’s X-ray image, deceitfully edited to add a cockroach, creating the illusion of a cockroach captured in a chest X-ray.
For reference, images illustrating foreign bodies detected in human bodies via X-ray have been shared in the past. You can find some of those images here, here and here.
To sum up, the viral ‘Cockroach in Chest X-ray’ image turns out to be a morphed version of an original X-ray photograph.