Two heads are better than one.
Not in this case, though.
A two-headed newborn baby is under care at the Hanoi-based Central Pediatrics Hospital.
It's a little girl, the first child of a 28-year-old woman, a teacher at a kindergarten in Ninh Giang district, located in the northern province of Hai Duong. The child was born at Ninh Giang District General Hospital.
The birth took place by cesarean operation at 11am, May 9, 2007. The girl with two heads had 2.8kg at birth.
She also has two separate distinct necks and the heads are similar to those of two normal identical (monozygotic) twins with eyes, noses, mouths, ears.
Prenatal investigations found that the woman was carrying twins, but didn't track
down any abnormalities. "The two heads cried like normal newborn babies when they were taken from their mother's uterus", said Doctor Bui Quoc Khanh, Director of the Ninh Giang General Hospital.
Since the first health check-ups revealed that the girl displayed severe respiratory failure and weak health, she was transferred from the Ninh Giang Hospital to the Central Pediatrics Hospital for special care.
Tests at the Central Pediatrics Hospital revealed the baby possesses two heads, two necks, one body, two backbones, two legs, two hands, two kidneys, one liver, one spleen, two lungs, one heart, one bladder, and one female genitalia.
The baby's digestion system is under control, but it seems that she presents two stomachs.
The condition of possessing two heads is scientifically called bicephaly.
Sometimes, mutations, contamination or improper incubating conditions produce two-headed snakes, turtles or lizards, real natural curiosities.
About 400 cases of two-headed snakes have been recorded in historic times.
Bicephaly cases have been reported amongst other mammals, too, like cattle, for example. Fossil records revealed bicephaly cases even amongst fossil reptiles, during the Cretaceous (the dinosaur era).
|
