Two-headed baby girl died of infection

The Egyptian girl who survived the splitting operation had died yesterday because of a brain infection.

Baby Manar Maged.(Photo: BBC)

The Maged Manar encounters an unusual phenomenon when an embryo splits into the womb but does not develop completely into a twin. The girl's second head can smile and wink, but cannot operate independently.

The doctors in Cairo had surgery to separate the parasite head in February 2005, when the baby was only 10 months old. The girl died yesterday, when she was 2 years old, after a severe fever.

"She was hospitalized in a very serious condition. She had a serious infection in her brain and could not survive , " said Abla el-Alfy, a pediatrician who looked after Manar.

The doctors at Benha Children's Hospital considered Manar's survival through a 13-hour operation a success. The baby's condition improves after the surgery but the baby continues to have common types of infections.

The second head contains eyes, nose and mouth, but is not connected to any internal organs and cannot think independently. This is one of the rarest birth defects.

MT