Young mum 'terminates "mermaid" pregnancy at 6 months

 

A young woman terminated her pregnancy after six months when doctors told her she was carrying a mermaid-like foetus, it has been reported. The 23-year-old took the drastic action after a scan at the Health Care Center for Women and Children in Yichang City, in Central China’s Hubei Province. Scans showed the foetus had developed a 'tail-like growth' but no legs.It also did not have a bladder and had a stunted liver, reports said.

Doctors at the hospital told mother 'Wu' the foetus was suffering from a rare condition known as sirenomelia, or "Mermaid Syndrome".
 

It is a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together, giving them the appearance of a mermaid’s tail. Wu decided to terminate her pregnancy after specialists estimated that the baby would only survive for a few hours after birth.
 

The causes behind Mermaid Syndrome are still a medical mystery and it is said to occur only once in every 100,000 pregnancies.

Milagros Cerron, another child born with sirenomelia, later underwent a successful operation to separate her legs

According to reports, there are only two known survivors of Mermaid Syndrome in the world today.

Daily Mirror