RARE BIRTH
Doctors stunned after a baby is born with a mermaid-like tail instead of legs due to rare health condition
DOCTORS were stunned after a baby was born with a mermaid-like tail instead of legs.
The infant is being cared for in India after being born with its legs fused in a horn-like structure due to a rare health condition.
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The baby was born in Manpura Primary Health Center, in central India's Shivpuri district, and remains in a stable condition.
Following the miracle birth, doctors immediately rushed the baby and mother to the Shivpuri District Hospital for close medical supervision.
The rare phenomenon is known as Mermaid Syndrome, or Sirenomelia, and sees infants born with the horn-like structure over their lower body.
The newborn has since been cared for by specialists at the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the hospital - but a doctor stated that the child is severely undeveloped, weighing just over 2lbs.
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Despite the baby's mermaid-like tail occurring due to a very rare health condition, it is not the first time the phenomenon has happened in recent years.
In 2017, a woman stunned medics in Kolkata, India after giving birth to a baby with the health condition.
She tragically lost the child after just four hours, while doctors were baffled by the medical marvel.
Dr Sudip Saha, child specialist at the hospital where she gave birth, said: "I had never seen such a baby before.
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"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.
"Due to lack of proper nutrition and improper blood circulation to the baby from mother can create this kind of abnormality in fetus. Unfortunately such babies do not survive."
The year before, another woman from Uttar Pradeash in northern India gave birth to first mermaid baby in the country, but it sadly only survived for approximately ten minutes.
The tragic condition struck another child in 2018, when a mother lost her baby born with Sirenomelia in western India.
Although it is incredibly rare, the health condition occurs in around 1 in every 100,000 births.