Doctors in Pakistan left baffled after finding foetus inside infant with stomach pain

A routine medical checkup for a stomachache turned into a shocking nightmare for a family in Pakistan when they discovered that their little girl in pain had a foetus growing inside of her. According to The Mirror, the baffling case surfaced in the city of  Sadiqabad.

It all began when the family took their 10-month-old infant to the hospital for abdominal pain. At first, doctors thought that the baby was suffering from an abdominal tumour that was causing the uncomfort. However, upon further medical analysis, it was found that the infant had her unborn twin inside her. 

What did the doctors find? 

The medics later deduced that the baby had ascites, a rare medical condition also known as fetus in fetu. According to The Mirror, ascites causes fluid to build up in spaces of the stomach. Sometimes, it is also referred to as the Vanishing Twin Syndrome where a twin disappears into another. 

"When the operation commenced, everything appeared to be proceeding as expected. However, after a span of two hours, a revelation emerged upon the removal of the tumour from the young girl's abdomen," elucidated Mushtaq Ahmed, a surgeon at the hospital. 

The child's father later revealed that the young girl had been experiencing stomach pain since she was born, and had been given various treatments for it before. But after no treatment worked, the family decided to take her to a hospital and get a solid diagnosis. 

According to findings published in the Journal of Surgical Technique and Case Report in 2010, only 1 in 500,000 births experience the rare condition. "This phenomenon, known as foetus in fetu (FIF), involves the development of twins where one foetus grows within the body of the other. It happens with one in a million individuals. A sample has been dispatched to the laboratory for further comprehensive testing," Ahmed said.