Doctors in Brazil are unsure whether they can safely operate on a baby born with two heads.
The rare condition occurs when one of two conjoined twins fails to fully develop in the womb.
The “twins”, named Jesus and Emanuel, have two brains, two backbones and a single heart.
The 4.5 kg baby was born by caesarean at daybreak on Monday in a small hospital in the northern state of Para and was rushed by plane to a better equipped hospital in the state capital Belem.
Doctor Neila Dahas, who is treating the newborn, said separating the heads would be impossible because he only has one set of organs.
“What we know statistically is that the children who undergo surgery and survive are the children who have less organs in common,” she said.
She added that it is still difficult to choose which head to remove because both brains are functioning well.
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