Hey, I have a question to post.
I heard of this sirenomelia. What exactly is this. I saw some pictures on TV and it made me sick.
Hello,
Yup… they are not balsam for the eyes…
Sirenomelia is a birth defect. A term comes from from "siren" or "mermaid" because infants resemble the mythical siren. An infant with sirenomelia is born with a single lower extremity or with two legs that are fused together. There are 3 types of sirenomelia: simpus apus (one tibia and no feet), simpus unipus (one foot, two tibia), simpus dipus (two feet and two fused legs). The latest is called a mermaid.
There have been about 300 cases reported in a world literature and it is more likely that the sirenomelia will affect male infant (3:1). However, once a baby is born and is no longer dependent from mother, usually dies in one day period. Sirenomelia varies in cases, but in general infants with sirenomelia suffer form normal vascular supply, have no kidneys, ureter, bladder, rectum, … in short the urogenital and gastrointestinal systems are badly developed. Hope that helped understood sirenomelia.