Two-legged Siamese twins Indonesia's first<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Mujito and Eka, who died Saturday night, were
\nthe country's first Siamese twins born with only one pair of
\nlegs, the chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association, Azrul
\nAzwar, said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Previously, I have never heard of two-legged Siamese born in
\nthis country and such births rarely occur in the world,\" Azrul
\nsaid. \"Conjoined twins are quite common when a single fertilized
\negg fails to divide fully into separate twins during the
\ngestation period.\"<\/p>\n
Apart from two perfect heads, Mujito and Eka had separate
\nlungs, spinal cords and stomach but shared a single heart, liver,
\ngenitals, a pair of legs and arms.<\/p>\n
Azrul told The Jakarta Post that connections at the chest,
\nbuttocks and head were common for Siamese twins in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia lacked facilities to deal with Siamese twins
\njoined from the waist down.<\/p>\n
Born to a low-income family, the twins would have burdened
\ntheir family and experienced psychological strain as they grew
\nup, he said.<\/p>\n
Life magazine reported similar births in Russia and the United
\nStates.<\/p>\n
In 1950, Masha and Dasha were born in Moscow with two
\nperfectly good legs and a vestigial third leg. They had separate
\nstomachs and upper intestines which joined to form a single lower
\nintestine and rectum. The girls, who were 16 years old when the
\nmagazine published the story, learned to walk when they were
\nfive.<\/p>\n
The Hensel twins, Brittany and Abigail, seven years old, live
\nin America's Midwest. Their parents feared an operation would
\nendanger the twins' lives.<\/p>\n
The twins have two hearts but share a venous system and all
\norgans below the waist. The Hensels started learning to walk when
\nthey were 15 months old.<\/p>\n
Though the circulatory system is interconnected, the Russian
\nand American twins have separate instincts because their heads
\nand spinal cords do not connect. Both twins also have a single
\nset of reproductive organs.<\/p>\n
Time magazine reported a similar case when a medical team at
\nLondon's Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital attempted to
\nseparate three-year-old Eilish and Katie Holton of Ireland in
\n1992. Katie died four days later and Eilish lived. (10)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/two-legged-siamese-twins-indonesias-first-1447893297",
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