A baby was born with four arms and four legs in the town of Lavkushnagar, located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, on August 23.
The newborn, delivered by a 29-year-old local resident, survived the birth and remains in a stable condition weighing approximately three kilograms.
Medical professionals examining the infant reported that the additional pairs of arms and legs are attached to the upper part of the child's chest and abdomen. Physicians believe they are dealing with a parasitic twin, an undeveloped sibling that grew inside the child's body during pregnancy.
Doctors are preparing to conduct a full medical examination of the newborn to determine a treatment strategy and plan potential surgical options. The details of the birth were reported on August 25 by the news outlet Need To Know.
Crowds gather outside hospital
Following the arrival of the unusual baby, a large crowd of people gathered outside the hospital building hoping to see the newborn child. In India, infants born with rare physical anomalies or extra limbs are frequently viewed by religious worshippers as earthly manifestations or reincarnations of a deity.
A parasitic twin, medically known as a heteropagus twin, is a rare condition that occurs when an identical twin embryo begins to develop in the uterus but fails to fully separate. Instead of growing into an independent fetus, the incomplete twin stops developing normally and remains physically attached to the dominant host sibling, drawing nutrients through the host's circulatory system.
Previous cases of parasitic twins
Similar medical conditions have been reported by pediatric surgeons in other countries. Previously in Egypt, doctors successfully performed surgery to remove a parasitic twin from the abdomen of an 11-day-old baby girl. In that instance, the undeveloped twin had been sustained by feeding directly from the blood artery of her healthy sister.
Lavkushnagar is a town situated in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, a large landlocked state in central India home to over 70 million people. In rural healthcare settings, cases involving complex congenital anomalies are typically referred to major university medical centers equipped with specialized pediatric surgical departments.
