A baby girl has been born with three arms in India due to a rare condition that only affects one in a million infants. The newborn, who is just four days old, has two arms in the correct place but she also a has a third arm joined to her back near the spinal cord. Her father Waqar Ahmed, from the Taunsa Sharif sub-division of Dera Ghazi Khan, took his daughter to hospital after she was born on Monday. Scroll down to watch video  One in a million: A baby girl who has been born with three arms in Pakistan because of a rare condition called Polymelia that only affects one in a million  The extra arm: The little girl, who was born on Monday, has a third arm attached to her back near her spinal cord She was then transferred to Nishtar Hospital where staff are consulting experts about the possibility of operating on the third arm. Dr Ghulam Shabbir said the baby girl suffers from a rare condition called Polymelia, which causes a person to be born with extra limbs, often arms or legs. Dr Shabbir told The Express Tribune that an amputation of the extra limb would be the first operation of its kind at the hospital.  Amputation: Staff at Nishtar Hospital in Pakistan are consulting with experts over how to remove the extra limb The girl's birth comes soon after a baby boy Umar Farooq was born in Sukkur in Pakistan with six legs earlier this month. The rare disorder occurs in the womb when the cells form abnormally during embryonic development. The embryo begins to develop as conjoined twins but stops, leaving the remaining developments of the undeveloped twin attached to the body of the other.  Umar Farooq was born in Sukkur, Pakistan, with six legs after being diagnosed as suffering from the rare condition Polymelia
 Doctors at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) successfully removed the additional legs after an eight hour surgery in Karachi, Pakistan last Thursday Farooq was born to a couple who are cousins. The baby had struggled to survive and rushed to the hospital in Karachi. ONE IN A MILLION CONDITION Polymelia is a rare birth defect that only affects only one in a million infants and causes sufferers to be born with extra limbs. The rare disorder occurs in the womb when the cells form abnormally during embryonic development. Sometimes an embryo started as conjoined twins, but one twin degenerated completely except for one or more limbs, which end up attached to the other twin. There are very few known cases of Polymelia around the world. In 2005, a baby girl named Destiny was born with a fully formed extra leg in Detroit as a result of a conjoined twin not fully developing in the womb. In March 2006, a baby boy identified only as Jie-jie was born in Shanghai with a fully formed third arm. In July 2007 a child was born with four legs at the Lebowakgomo hospital outside Polokwane in South Africa. Most well known is the case of Lakshmi Tatma who was born with eight limbs in India in 2005. Two years later in 2007, doctors at Bangalore's Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, successfully removed her extra limbs . Doctors had to first examine MRI, blood tests and CT scans to determine which of the legs belonged the Farooq and which to his undeveloped twin before the operation, which lasted eight hours and was performed in stages last Thursday. Director of National Institute of the Child Health in Karachi, Jamal Raza, told Pakistani news site Dawn.com: 'A team of five experienced doctors have successfully separated the extra legs and limbs from the baby. 'He is very much safe and secure. The extra limbs and legs were the result of a genetic disease which would affect only one in a million or more babies.' The Pakistan government funded the operation following plea's from Farroq's family. Farooq's father Imran Shaikh said: 'We are a poor family. I am thankful to the government and doctors for helping us successful operating my baby.' Shaikh's wife of four years is reported to be recovering well from the birth via caesarean section and the Sindh provincial health department are determining whether the baby needs any further treatment to live a normal life. It comes after a three-year-old boy was operated on in Peru to remove the body of a 'parasitic twin growing inside of his stomach. Lakshmi Tatma who was born with eight limbs in India is one of the most well known cases of Polymelia. Doctors successfully removed her parasitic twin who had stopped developing in the womb and attached to her body in 2007. |
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