Mermaid Syndrome Facts

The congenital deformity known as mermaid syndrome is a very rare birth deformity, as rare as conjoined twins in fact. The only problem with it is that it is lethal for the new born baby and most often than not required immediate surgeries. This article is aimed at arming you with all the possible mermaid syndrome information, so here we start with the mermaid syndrome facts. Before we begin with a thesis on mermaid syndrome, there are a few mermaid syndrome facts.

• Mermaid syndrome is also known as sirenomelia, as mentioned earlier.
• Mermaid syndrome is such a rare birth defect that only one in every 70,000 births is known to have it.
• When a baby is born with mermaid syndrome, it is very very lucky, for the one fact that there are only over 300 reported live births of such babies.
• More often than not, mermaid syndrome proves fatal for the baby. In fact, very few survive it even after surgery.
• Half the mermaid syndrome cases are usually seen as stillbirths, while it is hundred times more likely to occur in identical twins.
• This disorder was initially mistaken with Caudal Regression Syndrome, but was later reiterated as an independent sirenomelia mermaid syndrome.

Mermaid Syndrome Information

This birth defect is caused by the abnormal formation of the umbilical cord blood vessels. While most normal fetuses have two umbilical arteries and one umbilical vein, the sirenomelia fetus just has one. Most often, if a sirenomelia baby does have two arteries (which is extremely rare) it is most often blocked. With one umbilical artery (vitelline artery) providing blood to the fetus, it is obvious that it grows abnormally large and fails to fuse when it is supposed to. This artery thus steals the blood and nutritions from the lower body of the fetus and diverts it back up the placenta. Due to this malnutrition, the lower limbs of the fetus fail to develop and separate into two limbs.

Often, such mermaid syndrome comes with other life threatening abnormalities. The lower side malnutrition also result in malformed kidneys and internal or external genetelia. Even worse, this problem causes the large intestine to misplace itself within the abdomen of the baby and sometimes even the anus is imperforate (has no opening). Thankfully, the mermaid syndrome malfunction can be seen in various levels of severity. The range of severity for mermaid syndrome is as follows:

• Mild Mermaid Syndrome: Here the sirenomelia baby has two limbs fused into one, only to the extent of the skin. The feet may be fully formed and many are only attached at the ankles. All the three main bones of the leg are fully and correctly formed. In this mild mermaid syndrome, a small surgery can easily correct the deformity.
• Severe Mermaid Syndrome: The severe form of mermaid syndrome is very difficult to even imagine. The things that are externally visible are that the both limbs are completely joined, appear tapered and are ill formed. There is a complete absence of foot structures and out of the three, only two bones are present in the entire limb. Other internal damage can only be accessed with medical tests and x-rays.

Mermaid Syndrome Causes

Scientists and medical professionals are still debating the causes of mermaid syndrome in newborns. There are however a few unconfirmed theories going around, regarding the mermaid syndrome causes. They are as listed below:

• Illness suffered during pregnancy, either by the expecting mother or directly by the fetus.
• Poor prenatal care by the expectant mother.
• Genetic abnormalities either in the genes of the mother or the genes of the father.

Mermaid Syndrome Survivor Facts

Believe it or not guys, in the entire medical history of the world, there are only two known survivors of mermaid syndrome, both of them girls. Mermaid syndrome girl Shiloh Pepin (born in 1999) recently died in October 2009, after defying her doctors, who claimed that she would not live past a few days from her birth. The girl lived to be ten years old and can be given the credit for spreading more mermaid syndrome facts and awareness by appearing on television shows like the Oprah Winfrey Show. Details on the two survivors are given below.

Tiffany Yorks is the oldest survivor of mermaid syndrome and was born with the defect in 1980. Unfortunately, she had more problems than just fused legs. She was born without a bladder which had to be surgically put in. She had about 5 surgeries before she was one, to separate her legs and correct her other internal problems. She has had many more surgeries all throughout her youth, for her mermaid syndrome has caused her many problems even after the ones she had corrected earlier.

Peru born Milagros Cerron was born in 2004 and is also a valiant survivor of the mermaid syndrome. She too had numerous other complication to go with her already severe mermaid syndrome. She was not only born with just one kidney, but it was later found that both her digestive tract and genitals were one single tube. Like the 'miracle' that her name means in Spanish, this girl born in a poor Spanish family received all her medical treatment at the expense of the Lima Government. This Spanish girl was left almost mute by the intense medical treatment that she went through, but she has today overcome that trauma too.

Hope you have gained good insight on the mermaid syndrome facts with the help of this article. Researching this article made me so thankful to God that I have so many reasons to say 'I am blessed'. I hope reading this makes you feel lucky as well. Cherish what you have for there are some really horrible things out there, that you are lucky to not have faced.