Rare conjoined twins born in Brazil

A Brazilian woman has given birth to a rare set of conjoined twins that have two heads and a single body.

A Brazilian woman has given birth to a rare set of conjoined twins that have two heads and a single body.

Maria de Nazare (25) gave birth by caesarean at a hospital in Anajas in the northern Para state of Brazil. She had been expecting twins.

However, doctors advised her to have a caesarean birth after a scan revealed the babies, which she has named Jesus and Emanuel, have two brains, two backbones and a single heart.

Doctors said they appear to be in good health and weighed a combined 4.5kg (9.9lbs) at birth.

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Hospital director Claudionor Assis de Vasconcelos said the doctors decided on a caesarean once they realised the babies were co-joined twins and a normal birth would be risk to the mother and the twins.

The twins have a condition known as dicephalic parapagus, which is an extremely rare form of conjoinment.

Because they share the same body, it will not be possible to separate them.

Conjoined twins happen once every 200,000 live births, but dicephalic parapagus births are much rarer.