Guardian

THE conjoined twin girls, who were transferred to the National Hospital, Abuja for surgical intervention have died.

Information is still sketchy regarding the cause of the death of the twins, who underwent surgery for their separation at the National Hospital. The spokesman of the hospital, Tayo Haastrup told The Guardian on Monday that the “special” babies had died and their corpses deposited at the hospital morgue.

The girls, born at Mararaba Medical Centre, Nasarawa State, were said to have shared one navel and intestines. The twins were born to Ahmed and Safiya Sani at the Mararaba Medical Centre, Mararaba Gurku in Nasarawa State.

Online encyclopedia, Wikipedia describes conjoined twins as identical twins, whose bodies are joined in the womb.

It said, “a rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of pairs born alive have abnormalities incompatible with life. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25 per cent. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3:1.

“Two contradicting theories exist to explain the origin of conjoined twins. The older theory is fission, in which the fertilised egg splits partially. The second and more generally accepted theory is fusion, in which a fertilised egg completely separates, but stem cells, which search for similar cells, find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together.

“Conjoined twins share a single common chorion, placenta, and amniotic sac, although these characteristics are not exclusive to conjoined twins as there are some monozygotic but non-conjoined twins that also share these structures in utero.”