Craniopagus parasiticus
Overview
Parasitic twin
A parasitic twin is the result of the processes that produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two...
head with an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) body is attached to the head of a developed twin.
There have only been ten documented cases of this phenomenon, though to-date at least eighty cases of this phenomenon have been written about in various records http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/148/the_twoheaded_boy_of_bengal.html.
Unanswered Questions
Encyclopedia
Craniopagus parasiticus is a medical condition in which a parasitic twin
head with an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) body is attached to the head of a developed twin.
Parasitic twin
A parasitic twin is the result of the processes that produce vanishing twins and conjoined twins, and may represent a continuum between the two...
head with an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) body is attached to the head of a developed twin.
Cases
There have only been ten documented cases of this phenomenon, though to-date at least eighty cases of this phenomenon have been written about in various records http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/148/the_twoheaded_boy_of_bengal.html. Only three have been documented by modern medicine to have survived birth.- On December 10, 2003, Rebeca Martínez was born in the Dominican RepublicDominican RepublicThe Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
with this rare condition. She was the first baby born with the condition to undergo an operation to remove the second head. She died on February 7, 2004, after an 11-hour operation.http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/04/health/main597954.shtml - On February 19, 2005, 10-month-old Manar Maged underwent a successful 13-hour surgery in EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/4848164.stm. Manar has been featured on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
and in the British documentary series BodyShockBodyShockBodyShock is a sensationalistic documentary series about the conditions or lives of extraordinary people. It was originally produced by redback for Channel 4 in the UK, but since September 2006, it has been carried by ArkMedia....
. Manar died days before her second birthday due to a severe infection in her brain. http://multiples.about.com/b/2006/03/26/manar-maged-dies-from-brain-infection.htm - An earlier case was the so-called "Two-Headed Boy of Bengal," who was born in 1783 and died of a cobraCobraCobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
bite in 1787. His skull remains in the collection of the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of London http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/148/the_twoheaded_boy_of_bengal.html.