Baby born with Mermaid syndrome in Hyderabad hospital; doctors working on possible surgeries

HYDERABAD: In a rare case of Sirenomelia, mermaid syndrome, a baby was born with one leg at the Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburz in Hyderabad.
In charge Director of Medical Education Dr K Ramesh Reddy told TOI,” The baby was born as twin baby. Baby has been shifted to Niloufer hospital for tertiary care on Saturday for further evaluation and probably will take up surgery on Monday,”
Babies born with Sirenomelia also called mermaid syndrome is a rare congenital malformation.
Dr Ramesh Reddy said,”Babies will have a fusion of lower limbs and associated severe urogenital and gastrointestinal malformations. The occurrence is 0.8 to 1 in one lakh births. The woman gave birth to twins a girl weight around 2.4kg and the mermaid baby 1.2kg. The gender couldn’t be determined as the lower limb is fused and there are urogenital malformations.”
The mother of the baby identified as Suvarna of Shadnagar in Mahabubnagar underwent a caesarian operation at Peltaburz hospital.
So far in medical literature out of few hundred cases reported 15 percent are twin babies like in Hyderabad case. Ultrasound may be useful in the early antenatal detection of this anomaly.
Doctors are evaluating the baby for possible surgery for urinary and anal functioning. Doctors said the survival rates are low in these cases.