Doctors in Saudi Arabia witnessed a rare phenomenon after a baby girl was born pregnant, press reports said. The baby girl's mother was initially pregnant with twins, but doctors said the fetuses developed abnormally causing a rare condition known as fetus in fetu, Britain's Metro newspaper reported.Under normal circumstances the babies would be born twins; however, in this case the fetus grew inside its sister creating what has been described as a 'unique case in the world.' the paper said.
A fetus in fetu occurs in 1 in 500,000 births and is technically considered alive and has sparked debates about whether or not removing the baby can be considered murder. But doctors say the fetus is only alive in the sense that its component tissues have not yet died or been eliminated.
In January, a two month old Indonesian baby was diagnosed with a tumor after her stomach began swelling, but doctors later discovered she was carrying a five month old fetus.
In 2006, a 36-year-old Indian farmer had his twin brother removed after the man sought medical assistance for a swollen stomach that hampered his breathing. Doctors initially diagnosed the man with a stomach tumor but after surgery they found human genitalia, hairs, limbs and a jaw.