A 2-year-old in China gave “birth" to the undeveloped foetus of his twin, News.com.au reported Monday.
Xiao Feng, of Huaxi, was taken to an area hospital after his parents noticed his stomach had become so bloated that he was having trouble breathing.
Doctors took x-rays and MRI scans and discovered that Feng was carrying an undeveloped foetus inside his abdominal cavity. Doctors say the foetus took up two thirds of Xiao’s stomach, resulting in breathing difficulties for the child. It was removed through emergency surgery, according to Inquisitr's translation of newscast from a China Central Television, a state-run media outlet.
The foetus, doctors say, was Feng's twin. Identical twins occur when a fertilized egg splits in two. Conjoined twins occur when a fertilized egg begins to split, but fails to do so completely. In Feng's case, the foetus was his conjoined twin that had been absorbed into his body inside the womb.
Doctors surgically removed the foetus, noting that Feng would have died if the parasitic twin hadn't been removed.
The dead foetus was about 20 cm wide and had a fully-formed spine and limbs.
This incident may seem bizarre, but the same thing happened last year in Peru, when a three-year-old boy was found to be carrying his parasitic twin brother inside of him, according to CBS News.
In 2008, there was a similar case involving 9-year-old in Greece. The girl was diagnosed with a tumour that turned out to be concealing the undeveloped embryo of her parasitic twin, Medical News Today reported.
