What is 'Mermaid Syndrome'? Hyderabad baby born with rare disorder dies within hours

In a government hospital in Hyderabad's Petlaburj, a woman on Wednesday gave birth to a baby with Sirenomelia or ‘Mermaid Syndrome’ who died after two hours. As per several media reports, the hospital’s doctors said that the baby died within a couple of hours of birth due to critical medical condition. The medical professionals at Petlaburj Maternity Hospital informed that the bay with ‘mermaid syndrome’ was born on Wednesday at 7 PM but succumbed to “serious deformities.”

The Sirenmelia or Mermaid Syndrome babies rare ‘fetal anomaly’ including a characteristic feature in which there is a complete or partial fusion of the lower limbs. As per the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the syndrome is “incompatible” with life due to the association of several visceral abnormalities. However, NCBI stated that there have been few reports of surviving infants. The Hyderabad doctors also noted that the babies, such as the one who died within two hours  “are extremely rare.”

What causes this syndrome?

As per the Rare Diseases official website, the exact cause of Mermaid Syndrome or Sirenomelia is unknown. However, researchers believe that several factors play role in the birth of such a baby including environmental as well as genetic that ultimately play cause the development of the disorder. Experts have also noted that often, such cases that are reported across the globe occur “randomly for no apparent reason." This indicates environmental factors or a “new mutation”. Further, in some individuals, sirenomelia is theorized to be the outcome of irregularities in the early development of the blood circulating system within the embryo. 

How many cases have been reported?

While it has also been determined that Mermaid Syndrome impacts males more often than females by a ratio of 2.7 to 1, it occurs in approximately one in 60,000 to 100,000 births. As per a PTI report, in 2018, a baby was born with the same disorder at the Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Government Hospital at Ambajogai in Maharashtra. However, similar to case in Hyderabad, the baby in Maharashtra with Sirenomelia died within just 15 minutes of being born.

A year earlier, in 2017, another case was reported of a 23-year-old woman giving birth to a baby with fused legs and the sex also was not identified. In a notable case from Texas in 2019, a one-year-old baby who had born with Mermaid Syndrome survived and went on live life after reportedly undergoing surgery to separate the fused legs. It was a girl.