Fetus found inside stomach of 40-day-old child in Bihar; one in 5 lakh infants affected by this condition

Motihari: In a shocking discovery, doctors have found a fetus inside the stomach of a 40-day-old infant in Bihar’s Motihari district. The rare medical anomaly is called ‘Fetus in Fetu’ in medical terminology.

The affected child was brought to Motihari’s Rahmania Medical Centre for treatment. He was bloated near his stomach and had trouble urinating. Dr Tabrez Aziz of the medical centre prescribed a CT scan for the child. The scan results were shocking. A fetus was found developing inside the stomach of the infant.

He said the phenomenon is extremely rare — one in five lakh children are affected by it.

Dr Aziz said the infant had undergone surgery and was stable. The child has been discharged from hospital.

Fetus in Fetu is a congenital anomaly. In this condition, a malformed fetus is found inside the body of its twin. The fetus is parasitic in nature and it feeds on the nutrients of its host. This condition was first defined by Meckel in the early nineteenth century. 

With inputs from ANI