A baby boy born with four arms and four legs in Uganda is recovering well after a successful three-hour operation.
Paul Mukisa was born on May 27 to 28-year-old Margaret Awino, CNN reported. Upon noticing the baby's deformity the family rushed him to a nearby hospital near the small town of Nabigingo. They were quickly referred to Mulago Hospital in the Ugandan capital of Kampala.
The team of doctors diagnosed the infant with "parasitic twinning," which is similar to conjoined twinning except one member of the pair is not full developed.
In addition to the exterior abnormalities the team found the baby's heart was on the right side of his body while his liver was on his left, which is the opposite of what is should be. After the first examination Paul was sent home for three months so he would have time to grow.
On Aug. 18 Paul finally received surgery.
"The baby was given general anesthesia and the torso and trunk of the parasitic twin -- which had two arms but no head or heart -- was detached from the host baby," Dr. Nasser Kakembo, one of the surgeons who performed the operation told CNN.
"Then we also detached the lower limbs of the parasitic twin from the host, which included disarticulating the right and left lower limbs as they were attached by joints. We controlled the bleeding and fashioned skin flaps to close the resulting wound," he said. "There were no intra-operative or post-operative complications and mild blood loss and a precautionary blood transfusion was given."
The baby has now been reported to be recovering well and healthily breastfeeding. He is expected to remain at the hospital for about two more weeks. Paul's condition is extremely rare, and is believed to occur when one twin stops developing at some point during the surgery and merges with the still-developing baby.
"The father and mother were very grateful because at first they thought it was due to witchcraft, and their baby was a laughing stock because of the abnormalities," said Kakembo.
