From South Asia News Bulletin:
China’s first “mermaid baby” died of heart failure at a hospital in central China’s Hunan Province after doctors failed to save the abandoned boy, till date there has been only two known cases in the world of children who survived the affliction.
The baby was abandoned in front of the hospital gate and admitted on 12th November.
The baby, born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or “mermaid syndrome”, survived 38 days in the intensive care unit before breathing his last on Sunday. “Mermaid” syndrome is almost always fatal within days of birth due to serious defects in vital organs and complications associated with abnormal kidney and bladder development.[Full Text]
