Brazilian women gives birth to a two-headed boy

Dec 22, 2011 |

London

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A Brazilian women has given birth to a baby with two perfectly formed heads and doctors say the newborn appears to be in good health.

The baby weighing 9.9 pounds was delivered by emergency Cesarean section early Monday in a hospital in Anajas in the northeastern Para State.

Following the birth the baby, his mother Maria de Nazare admitted that she had been told she was set to welcome twins. But following a number of tests, doctors found that the baby has two brains and two spines but shares one heart, lungs, liver and pelvis, the Daily Mail reported.

According to doctors, the two-headed boy, in reality, is conjoined twins who share a single body. The condition is known as dicephalic parapagus - an extremely unusual form of conjoinment.

As they share the same body, it is not possible to separate dicephalic parapagus twins, they said.

Claudionor Assis de Vasconcelos, director of the hospital where the baby was born, told Brazil's O Povo newspaper that the baby's mother, Maria de Nazare, decided to travel to the hospital after she felt strong abdominal pains.

The 25-year-old mother, who lives in a rural area of the state, had no ultra-sound scans during her pregnancy and only found out about the abnormality minutes before the baby was born, De Vasconcelos said.

"When doctors scanned her they realised that the baby had two heads and that a normal birth would be a great risk both for mother and baby. The caesarean took an hour because the baby was sitting down," he said.

"Despite all the problems we have as a small interior hospital we managed to save both mother and baby, which was our aim. And for us it was a great surprise to find out that the child was in really good health.

"The baby's mother has bonded well with her newborn and has decided to call the pair Emanoel and Jesus. This is the second case of a two-headed baby being born in Brazil this year.

Sueli Ferreira, 27, gave birth to a child with two heads in Campina in Paraiba state but the baby died a few hours later.

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