Rare Medical Condition Fetus in Fetu : Unborn Twin Grows Inside Another Person

Fetus in Fetu is the source of shocking headlines of discovering a lost twin growing inside the body of another person that dot the pages of tabloids and fuel the imagination of Sci-Fi writers everywhere. Entire episodes of the X-Files, Twilight Zone and other similar shows are devoted to the discovery of Fetus in Fetu, a living twin inside the body of another. Stephen King's novel "The Dark Half" hinges on the removal of an unborn twin from the main character as a child that later comes back to haunt him; an entertaining piece of fiction designed to frighten the reader. Most of us have passed it off as just that; a bit of intriguing drama created solely for the purpose of entertainment.

In 1999, ABC reported the case of Sanju Bhagat, a 36 year old man in India who was rushed to the hospital because his stomach had grown so large he had difficulty breathing. Although he had been teased since childhood about his large belly that made him look pregnant, no one was prepared for what was discovered inside Bhagat.

Inside his abdomen was a half formed human that contained a spinal column, hair, bones, genitalia and limbs. This unborn twin was enveloped in a sac filled with fluid. Doctors and nurses were shocked at what appeared at first to be a living being inside of Bhagat. Reporters quickly termed the phrase "the first pregnant man".

Bhagat was not really the first pregnant man. He had the rare condition Fetus in Fetu which occurs in less than 1 in 500,000 births. To date there are nearly 90 reported and documented cases.

Fetus in Fetu occurs when a monozygotic twin (identical twin) somehow gets absorbed into the body of its twin and continues to grow by initially sharing the placenta with its twin and then becoming a parasite that lives off its twin host by using the host's body to sustain its growth.