2 year-old Xiao Feng was rushed to a Chinese hospital after his parents noticed he had a bloated stomach and couldn’t breathe. The doctors noted that little baby Feng had an undeveloped fetus inside his tummy. The twin was removed through a surgery that was very dangerous. Baby Feng could have died if the parasitic twin wasn’t removed. The dead fetus was “10 inches wide and had a fully formed spine and limbs,” according to the Huffington Post.
Doctors determined that the fetus was an identical twin that was connected. They went on to say that “conjoined twins occur when a fertilized egg begins to split, but fails to do so completely.” The twin in this case was absorbed into Feng’s body in the womb.
This occurrence is becoming less rare as cases where one twin is absorbed into another begin to come to light. Last year in Peru, another parasitic twin was found inside a three year old boy. Also in India a baby girl was found with 4 arms and legs, but she was in a similar parasitic twin situation. In 2008 a 9 year old girl in Greece had what was thought of as a tumor, but what was actually an undeveloped embryo that was later found to be a parasitic twin. Ultimately this baby’s surgery was a success, and little Feng should be on his way to a perfect recovery.
