In a rare instance of identical quadruplets, which doctors say happens once in 13 million births, four such males were born on March 11 in Kerala's Kasargod district.
MANGALORE: In a rare instance of identical quadruplets, which doctors say happens once in 13 million births, four such males were born on March 11 in Kerala's Kasargod district.
Considering their delicate state - they were also premature - the quadruplets were moved to a Mangalore hospital's ICU, where one of them died on Monday night. The rest of them are doing well. Dr Ali Kumble, chairman of Indiana Hospital, said that the case can be considered rare since the babies were identical and also had an average gestation period of 26 weeks as against 40 weeks. The average weight of the babies was 740 gm as against 1.3 kg as per medical literature and recorded cases.
"Such cases are extremely rare. Quadruplets occur once in 70 lakh births and identical quadruplets are born once in 13 million births. There are only 60 such cases recorded worldwide and it is a challenge to ensure their survival,'' Dr Kumble said. While two babies weigh 900gm the other two are 580gm each. They were born to Aysha Tahira, 30, and Latheef of Kasargod after 10 years of marriage.
Kumble said the three babies are healthy. "I hope that they do not have any neurological complications later. The babies have different blood groups, while two of them are B+, one is O+. The child who died was A+. As the babies are from the same zygote, the third and fourth babies will be weak and more prone to infections. Moreover, there is scientific data that male babies have higher infection rate than female babies,'' he said.
The country last had such rarity in Chennai at the Apollo Hospital on April 25, 2006, when a software professional delivered four baby girls.
Considering their delicate state - they were also premature - the quadruplets were moved to a Mangalore hospital's ICU, where one of them died on Monday night. The rest of them are doing well. Dr Ali Kumble, chairman of Indiana Hospital, said that the case can be considered rare since the babies were identical and also had an average gestation period of 26 weeks as against 40 weeks. The average weight of the babies was 740 gm as against 1.3 kg as per medical literature and recorded cases.
"Such cases are extremely rare. Quadruplets occur once in 70 lakh births and identical quadruplets are born once in 13 million births. There are only 60 such cases recorded worldwide and it is a challenge to ensure their survival,'' Dr Kumble said. While two babies weigh 900gm the other two are 580gm each. They were born to Aysha Tahira, 30, and Latheef of Kasargod after 10 years of marriage.
Kumble said the three babies are healthy. "I hope that they do not have any neurological complications later. The babies have different blood groups, while two of them are B+, one is O+. The child who died was A+. As the babies are from the same zygote, the third and fourth babies will be weak and more prone to infections. Moreover, there is scientific data that male babies have higher infection rate than female babies,'' he said.
The country last had such rarity in Chennai at the Apollo Hospital on April 25, 2006, when a software professional delivered four baby girls.
