Woman, 19, gives birth to baby with 2 heads

A baby girl with what appears to be two heads   has been delivered at the General Hospital, Malumfashi, Katsina state.

The baby also has a cleft palate and stunted fingers.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that 19-year old Zainabu Dahiru gave birth to the baby with no eyes on Sunday night.

The baby’s father, Malam Dahiru Umar, told NAN at his residence at Unguwar-Sodangi in Malumfashi on Tuesday that the baby was born through normal delivery.

Umar, a 25-year-old petty trader, said the baby was their first and his wife attended regular ante-natal care during pregnancy.

He said he burst into tears on sighting the baby and sympathetic hospital workers told him that they could not offer any medical assistance beside the delivery.

He said the workers informed him that his wife was in stable condition and referred the baby to the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, near Zaria.

Umar appealed to government, wealthy individuals and non-governmental organizations for support.

Meanwhile, efforts to speak with the Medical Director of the General Hospital failed.

However, a paediatrician, Dr Ahmad Bala, who spoke to NAN, said the baby needed maximum medical examination to ascertain the nature of the abnormalities.

NAN report that the baby and her mother were still at home.

When shown the photograph of the baby, a gynaecologist at the Garki Hospital, Abuja, Dr Kayode Obende, said the condition was called encephalocele.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, encephalocele is a neural tube defect characterised by sac-like protrusions of the brain and the membranes that cover it through openings in the skull. These defects are caused by failure of the neural tube to close completely during foetal development.

Encephaloceles cause a groove down the middle of the skull or between the forehead and nose or on the back side of the skull.

Encephaloceles occur rarely, at a rate of one per 5,000 live births worldwide. The condition can occur in families with a family history of spina bifida.

Although the exact cause is unknown, encephaloceles are caused by failure of the neural tube to close completely during foetal development.

Proper levels of folic acid have been shown to help prevent such defects when taken before pregnancy, and early in pregnancy. It is recommended that women who may become pregnant take 400 micrograms of folic acid daily.