A young mother in India recently gave birth to the country’s second ever ‘mermaid baby’ but sadly lost the child just four hours later.
The baby’s sex was unclear as a result of its underdeveloped pelvis and fused legs. The condition is referred to as sirenomelia or the ‘mermaid syndrome’.
Muskura Bibi, 23, gave birth naturally on Wednesday morning at a government-run Chittaranjan Deva Sadan Hospital in Kolkata, eastern India. She was unaware of the condition of her baby as she couldn’t afford the cost of a scan during the pregnancy. It was only after the child was born that its condition became known.
Dr Sudip Saha, a child specialist at the hospital said the condition can result from a “lack of proper nutrition and improper blood circulation to the baby from the mother.”
The doctor says: “I had never seen such a baby before. It is the first case of Sirenomelia in the state and second in the country.
“The baby had normal formation in upper part of the body but below the waist, its legs were fused together.
The lower part was not developed completely.
“We learnt the mother had not undergone ultrasound sonography throughout gestation.
“The parents are a labour couple and had not sought proper medication during pregnancy due to lack of money.
“Lack of proper nutrition and improper blood circulation to the baby from the mother can create this kind of abnormality in the foetus. Unfortunately, such babies do not survive.’
In 2016, a woman from Uttar Pradeash, northern Indian, gave birth to the country’s first known ‘mermaid baby’, which only survived for 10 minutes.
Mermaid syndrome is thought to affect one in every 60,000 to 100,000 births.
No mermaid baby is known to have survived beyond a few days
Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris told Daily Mail the condition occurs when the umbilical cord fails to form two arteries. As a result, there is an insufficient blood supply reaching the foetus.
She adds: “Sirenomelia is extremely fatal.
“There are no accounts of anyone with this condition surviving in the past.
“Most died within days of being born due to kidney and bladder failure.”
Daily Mail UK
If na 4 naija dem 4 go call pastor or imam to bind their enemies. Poor babe. RIP