A young woman terminated her pregnancy after six months when doctors told her she was carrying a mermaid-like foetus, it has been reported.
The 23-year-old took the drastic action after a scan at the Health Care Center for Women and Children in Yichang City, in Central China’s Hubei Province.
Scan showed the foetus had developed a ‘tail-like growth’ but no legs. It also did not have a bladder and had a stunted liver.
Doctors at the hospital told mother ‘Wu’ the foetus was suffering from a rare condition known as sirenomelia, or “Mermaid Syndrome”.
It is a rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together, giving them the appearance of a mermaid’s tail.
Wu decided to terminate her pregnancy after specialists estimated that the baby would only survive for a few hours after birth.
The causes behind Mermaid Syndrome are still a medical mystery and it is said to occur only once in every 100,000 pregnancies.
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