World Must Be Crazy

Conjoined/Siamese twins are identical twins or non identical whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 200,000 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%. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3:1.

Births of conjoined twins, whose skin and internal organs are fused together, are rare. Conjoined twins occur once every 200,000 live births, and their survival is anything but assured.

Approximately 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 percent survive only one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5 percent and 25 percent.

For some reason, female siblings seem to have a better shot at survival than their male counterparts. Although more male twins conjoin in the womb than female twins, females are three times as likely as males to be born alive. Approximately 70 percent of all conjoined twins are girls.

Conjoined twins are genetically identical, and are, therefore, always the same sex. They develop from the same fertilized egg, and they share the same amniotic cavity and placenta.

Twinning occurs one of two ways: either a woman releases two eggs instead of the usual one or she produces only one egg that divides after fertilization. If she releases two eggs, which are fertilized by separate sperm, she has fraternal twins. When a single, fertilized egg divides and separates, she has identical or paternal twins.

In the case of conjoined twins, a woman only produces a single egg, which does not fully separate after fertilization. The developing embryo starts to split into identical twins during the first few weeks after conception, but stops before the process is complete. The partially separated egg develops into a conjoined fetus.

One of the earliest documented cases of conjoined twins were Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst. They were born in Biddenden, County of Kent, England in the year 1100, and were joined at the hip.

The wealthy sisters, who were known as the Biddenden Maids, lived for 34 years. When they died, they left a small fortune to the Church of England. In honor of their generosity, it was customary for English citizens to bake little biscuits and cakes in the sisters’ images and give them to the poor.

Another set of famous conjoined twins was Eng and Chang Bunker, who were born in Thailand (then called Siam) in 1811. The term Siamese twins was coined as a reference to Eng and Chang, who achieved international fame shortly after leaving Siam as teenagers.

They were joined at the lower chest by a narrow band of flesh, which connected their livers. They were exhibited in circus shows around the world before settling in the United States, where they married two sisters and had nearly two dozen children. They were successful businessman and ranchers in Wilkes County, North Carolina, where they lived until 1874. They were 63 years old when they died.

The term Siamese twins is no longer considered appropriate. Conjoined twins aren’t limited to any racial or ethnic group and indeed have been born all over the world.

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