Baby born with EIGHT limbs due to rare ‘parasitic twin’ condition, leaving doctors baffled

A BABY has left doctors stunned after it was born with four arms and four legs. The extra limbs were attached to the newborn’s torso in what doctors believe is a case of a parasitic twin. A baby left doctors baffled after it was born with four arms and four legs Credit: Jam Press/Rare Shot News Doctors discovered the newborn had extra arms and legs attached to its torso Credit: Jam Press/Rare Shot News This is an extremely rare condition where one twin doesn’t fully develop in the womb but is fully attached to the second twin. The second baby, known as the dominant twin, does fully develop but is born with extra limbs and sometimes organs and tissues too. Sign up for the Health newsletter Thank you! In this case, the baby was born on August 23 to Reeta Ahirwar, a 29-year-old woman, at a community health centre in Lavkush Nagar, in India’s Madhya Pradesh state. The newborn weighed 3kg (6.6lb) at birth and the extra set of arms and legs were attached to its upper chest and abdomen. When Reeta’s husband, Shivcharan Ahirwar, learned of his child’s condition, he rushed to see the baby and called the birth a gift from God. The baby was initially kept under observation with its mum before being referred for specialist treatment. Doctors said the newborn appeared to be in a stable condition but that further assessment was necessary before any treatment could be considered. Detailed scans will now be needed to establish how the additional body parts are connected to the newborn. Most read in Health The infant is being prepared for an airlift to Jabalpur District Hospital, roughly 50 kilometres away, where specialists will need to assess its blood vessels, bones, circulation and internal organs. Most doctors have never seen a parasitic twin pregnancy firsthand due to the rareness of the condition. Dr Singh, who is overseeing the case, said: “This is a rare case of conjoined twins, a ‘one-in-a-million‘ case.” Senior nurse Savita, who has worked at the centre for more than a decade, said she had never seen anything like it. “In my 14 to 15 years of service, this is the first such case I have encountered, and it has left us astonished. In cases of conjoined twins, two babies joined with each other, develop in the mother’s womb,” she said. “In this case, one baby has developed completely while in the other baby, only the hands and legs have developed. “So, this infant has extra limbs.” While the dominant twin does fully develop, it has an increased risk of medical complications and often requires surgery shortly after birth. As well as extra limbs, the developed baby can also have tissue containing underdeveloped organs and bones that needs to be removed. Researchers are not sure what causes this condition, but one theory is that part of the embryo doesn’t completely divide very early in an identical twin pregnancy. In successful identical twin pregnancies, a single fertilised egg divides in two, creating twins who share the same genes. If the egg fails to fully separate, then conjoined twins are formed. But sometimes, one of the foetuses is partially absorbed by the other early on in the pregnancy. This causes the partially absorbed twin to stop developing and become parasitic. While it is possible to identify a parasitic twin during pregnancy, it can sometimes be entirely missed on imaging, depending on the size and positioning of the abnormality. Comment now