Baby inside baby

[Olowkow]

This is a new one on me, but very interesting from the viewpoint of stem cell research. I think the word "plueritonent" is supposed to be "pluripotent". I'm hoping someone can explain this a little better for me. Is this actually possible, and has it been reported anywhere else? Sounds like virgin birth to me! ;)

Baby Inside Baby

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Review/This_week_in_real_India/articleshow/2869934.cms
First they thought it was a huge kidney tumour. Then the doctors at the SCB Medical College in Cuttack were shocked when they realised it was actually an embryo growing inside the stomach of a three-month-old baby boy. A team of 10 surgeons, anaesthetists and paramedics removed the foetus that measured a kilo, after a four-hour operation. The embryo had developed bones, limbs, and even fingers and hair, hospital sources said. "This is the first time the state has witnessed a phenomenon where a developed embryo has been found inside an infant. Such deformities are found in one child among 10 lakh," the hospital's urology head, Duteswar Hota said. Generally, this happens due to the inclusion of the plueritonent cell in the body. "This cell accidentally entered the infant's body while it was still inside the womb and started developing there," Hota added.

[Lilith]

Hmmm... I've heard tell of partially reabsorbed twins (vanishing twin) inside young children - sometimes small parts, sometimes half a body, but I don't recall ever hearing of a developing embryo being found inside. I wonder if the development of the embryo had been arrested (which would make more sense ... I think), or if it was actively growing when it was discovered. If the article is taken at face value, it looks like development was ongoing.

[Olowkow]

Very strange that references are so difficult to find in the news. If it is a hoax, what is the point?

http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiaabroad/20080313/r_t_ians_hl/thl-foetus-removed-from-baby-s-abdomen-i-b9640bb.html

It was a case of retroperitoneal teratoma which occurs in children and young adults,' Hota told IANS.

The foetus weighed about 800 grams. 'It was an incomplete foetus with bones, limbs, fingers and hairs. However it was headless,' he said. 'The child is stable and out of danger. We will release him from the hospital after a week,' he added.

Edited: Well, there is this, just fascinating what can go wrong.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/110509037/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Teratomas occur infrequently in retroperitoneal areas and are usually benign. They may contain highly organized structures like digits and limbs. The presence of a well-formed fetus in teratomas is extremely rare. This report further documents an instance in which two fetuses were embedded within the retroperitoneal teratoma.