A 60-year-old man, living with a bulging stomach similar to a pregnant woman for more than three decades in Maharashtra's Nagpur was diagnosed with a rare medical condition. Sanju Bhagat was nicknamed "pregnant man" by his community in Nagpur due to his protruding belly, which turned out to be a rare condition of him being pregnant with his twin for over 36 years. According to a Daily Star report, Sanju Bhagat was diagnosed with a medical condition called "fetus in fetu", commonly known as "vanishing twin syndrome", meaning his twin died during pregnancy before being reabsorbed.
The rare condition is estimated to occur in just one in every 500,000 live births, where one twin is born inside the other.
Bhagat, as a child was fit and healthy despite a slightly more prominent stomach than most kids. But when he reached his 20s his tummy ballooned to an alarming size, reported the news outlet.
The news had also surfaced on various media outlets in 2006.
The rare condition is estimated to occur in just one in every 500,000 live births, where one twin is born inside the other.
Bhagat, as a child was fit and healthy despite a slightly more prominent stomach than most kids. But when he reached his 20s his tummy ballooned to an alarming size, reported abc news.
At this point Bhagat was struggling to make ends meet, so he ignored the swelling and put up with the teasing from his peers as well as his family's concern.
But in 1999, Bhagat began to face difficulties in breathing as the bulge pressed against his diaphragm. It is then that he was rushed to hospital in Mumbai. At first glance, Dr Ajay Mehta, who was treating Bhagat assumed the man was suffering from a tumour and proceeded to perform a stomach surgery. However, during the operation, the doctors discovered a human being.
"To my surprise and horror, I could shake hands with somebody inside.It was a bit shocking for me.", said Dr Ajay Mehta of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, as reported by abc news.
While another doctor recalled, "He just put his hand inside and he said there are a lot of bones inside. "First, one limb came out, then another limb came out. Then some part of genitalia, then some part of hair, some limbs, jaws, limbs, hair."
Bhagat, they discovered, had one of the world's most bizarre medical conditions -- fetus in fetu. It is an extremely rare abnormality that occurs when a fetus gets trapped inside its twin. The trapped fetus can survive as a parasite even past birth by forming an umbilical cordlike structure that leaches its twin's blood supply until it grows so large that it starts to harm the host, at which point doctors usually intervene, abc report.
Notably, no one suspected Bhagat had a twin inside him for 36 years. However, he is in good health and leads a normal life today.