A "miracle" baby has shocked India upon being delivered with four limbs and four legs. Previously in 2022, a similar baby with polymelia was birthed in eastern India, again with four arms and legs and portions of its organs visible. The infant was idolized by villagers who assumed the baby was an extraordinary person.
The "Miracle of Nature"
A newborn having four arms and legs was born in northeastern India, inspiring astonishment and bewilderment among observers. The infant, who was delivered on 2nd of July at the Shahabad Community Health Center in Uttar Pradesh, India, weighs 6.5 pounds and appeared to have had an additional set of both limbs and legs sprouting out of its chest.
As per The Independent, the infant has been hailed as a "wonder of creation" as word of the unusual delivery circulated around the community.
Others believe the child is a resurrection of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, whom was pictured as possessing numerous limbs and is the deity of abundance, fame, glory, grace, fertility, and success.
The infant is considered to even have polymelia, an extremely unusual congenital abnormality that causes the kid to be delivered with too many limbs.
Polymelia is categorized into four varieties according on where the additional limbs grow: Cephalomelia, Pyromelia, Thoracomelia, as well as Notomelia, with the limbs developing from the head, pelvis, thorax, or backbone, correspondingly, Newsweek reported.
Although polymelia is extremely rare in humans, it has also reported in cattle, bison, poultry, amphibians, even drosophila melanogaster at somewhat increased levels.
Polymelia is frequently induced by a hereditary abnormality in the developing fetus, which results in aberrant cellular proliferation and development. When one of a duo of conjoined infants is incorporated by the second, parts of its appendages stay connected to the surviving embryo.
Also read: Rare Sight: Whale Gives Birth to a Calf Off the Coast of South Africa
Newborn Baby with Four Arms and Four Legs
As shown in the recent update of the New York Post, extrinsic variables might even contribute to genetic anomalies such as polymelia. For instance, it is believed that the medication thalidomide, which was marketed as a morning sickness remedy in the 1950s, led to over 10,000 newborns to be delivered deformed with very few or underdeveloped limbs, with approximately 50% dead within months after delivery.
Following giving delivery on Tuesday, January 17, the newborn's mother was flooded by guests at Sadar Hospital in eastern India.
As per a 2013 paper done in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics, Indian unborn babies were at an enhanced threat of pregnancy deficiencies owing to a couple of changes such as intensified maternal maturity level, a dearth of maternity services, wherein 22.8% of Indian pregnancies did not receive any antenatal care, maternal diet quality, as well as the citizenry's frequent occurrence of consanguineous marriages.
As per Newsbreak, researches shows that cohabitating unions exist at frequencies ranging from 1% to 4% in northern India to as high as 40% to 50% in the southeast.
Related article: Study Proves That Prenatal Exposure to Chemicals Can Cause Liver Disease in Children