In a rare medical phenomenon, a dead foetus has been found inside the abdomen of a 4-year-old boy in West Midnapore district. The boy was admitted to a nursing home with severe stomach pain and it was initially suspected that a tumour was causing it but after conducting tests like ultrasonography and CT scan, it was found that a dead embryo was inside the boy’s abdomen.

Dead foetus removed from 4-year-old boy in West Bengal

He was operated upon on Sunday night and the foetus was removed. The embryo was dead but completely developed. It had legs, hands, nails and even the head was already partially formed. The nails are formed in a foetus in the 12th week or the 3rd month and the head post that so the baby was definitely 4 months old.

The boy, hailing from Kharikabandh village under Binpur police station, is alright now but still under observation.

How did the boy get pregnant?

This case is a rare example of a medical disorder where there are twins in the mother’s womb and one twin grows inside the other twins body.

This phenomenon occurs during early pregnancy when one twin enters into the other through the umbilical cord and becomes something like a parasite to the host baby. After birth, it becomes an abdominal mass.

Doctors claimed that such rare medical abnormality is known as “foetus in foetus” (baby within a baby). Such cases are rare as it occurred once in every five to six lakh people.