Born with four arms and four legs, a sensation in India

A baby girl with four hands and four legs was born in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, described as a "miracle of nature", and sparked a storm of controversy and interest.

Pictures and videos spread through social networking sites show the girl with what appears to be an extra pair of arms and legs attached to her stomach, in what is likely a case of "polyarthrosis", a congenital defect that results in the patient having more than usual number of limbs.

According to "The Independent" and "RT".

The congenital disorder results in additional unusable arms, legs, hands or feet that usually appear shrunken and deformed.

Some cases arise in conjoined twin scenarios, where one of the twins completely dissolves except for one or more limbs, which ends up conjoining the other.

The baby, whose name has not been released, was born last Saturday, weighing 2,961 g (6.5 lbs), at the Shahabad Community Health Center in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous district.

The mother, Karina, was admitted to the hospital after suffering labor pains on Saturday, and gave birth to her baby girl soon after, and despite the extra limbs sticking out of the baby's stomach, doctors at the Shahabad Community Health Center announced that the baby and mother were in good health.

Looking at the published photo of the girl after birth, it appears that another immature fetus is attached in the middle of the abdomen, from which two arms and two legs grow.

It is believed that this is because the cell division of the fertilized egg did not proceed well and the cell division was repeated in an incomplete state, causing the girl to absorb a small immature embryo.

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