In a potential case of life imitating satire rather than the other way around, in February 2015 the
Hong Kong Medical Journal published a case report of a "twin fetus-in-fetu."
That is,
in November 2010 a newborn girl in Hong Kong was found to have two tumors in her abdomen, but upon closer examination those "tumors" proved to be twin fetuses of approximately 8 to 10 weeks gestation.
Those fetuses reportedly each had four limbs, a spine, rib cage, intestines, anus, and an umbilical cord connected to a single placenta-like mass, but one fetus weighed 14.2 grams while the other was charted at 9.3 grams. The girl underwent surgery three weeks after birth to remove the fetuses, "made a good recovery" from the operation, and was discharged from the hospital eight days later.
According to the South China Morning Post, the condition reported of the girl is extremely rare, occurs in only about 1 in 500,000 births, and fewer than 200 cases have ever been reported in medical literature:
Dr Yu Kai-man also noted the newborn girl wasn't "pregnant" in the sense of carrying her own conceived children in her womb; she instead housed in her abdomen mislocated fetuses produced by her own parents' fertilization:
Last updated: 10 February 2015
|
Sources: |
Pang, Kristine KY et al. "A Case Report of a Twin Fetus-in-Fetu and a Revisit of the Known Rarity."
Hong Kong Medical Journal. February 2015 21(1):80–3.
Tsang, Emily. "Baby Born in Hong Kong Hospital Found with Twin Fetuses in her Abdomen."
South China Morning Post. 7 February 2015.