A baby born in Uttar Pradesh, India, shocked doctors after they discovered that its legs were fused together and resembling a fish’s tail. The newborn, which was said to have been suffering from a rare condition called Sirenomelia, also known as ‘mermaid syndrome’, lived for only about ten minutes before passing away.
The 22-year-old mother who hails from Sahranpur, in Uttar Pradesh, had delivered the baby on Friday morning. Dr, Vandana Arya, a gynaecologist at the hospital where the baby was born, says that she had never seen a case like this before.
“The baby was born with a fish-like body, and had its hands spread like fins, which made this case even more unique,” she explains, according to Daily Mail. While the upper body of the baby was perfectly functional, the lower body was not developed, she notes. Dr. Arya also added that this was the reason why it was impossible to determine the sex of the baby.
Doctors said that it was impossible to detect the sex of the baby because of its congenital condition. (Credit: YouTube)
Sirenomelia is a rare congenital deformity that causes the sufferer’s limbs to fuse together and appear to resemble a fish's tail. Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris told the Daily Mail that the life-threatening illness is caused by a failure of the normal vascular supply when the umbilical cord does not form two arteries.
This results in insufficient blood supply reaching the foetus, which remains malnourished in the womb. Therefore, the foetus does not develop two separate limbs. Dr. Fitzharris adds that Sirenomelia is extremely fatal and children often die within days of being born due to kidney and bladder failure. This is the fourth case of mermaid syndrome in the world but the first case to be reported in India, according to several sources.
Click on the link below to know about the story of another baby who was born with the 'mermaid syndrome' but was fortunate enough to survive and lead a normal life after surgery.
