Johannesburg - A baby boy born with two heads in Nelspruit has died, the Mpumalanga health department said on Tuesday.
“He died at the weekend,” said spokesman Ronnie Masilela.
The baby was 10 days old when he died at the Rob Ferreira Hospital.
“I'm not sure what caused it.”
He declined to comment further, referring Sapa to specialists who knew more about deformities.
However, he told Beeld newspaper the baby had only one functional head.
“His death is related to his condition. His parents were shocked and we (are) giving support and counselling,” he was quoted as saying.
In 2012, doctors at Dr Malizo Mpehle Memorial Hospital in Tsolo, in the Eastern Cape, delivered a baby with an eye and a penis on the forehead.
The baby girl, who was born to a 16-year-old girl from Qumbu, did not survive.
At the time, Eastern Cape health department spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said the baby had no nose and no eyes. Skin covered that area.
She had a penis on the forehead even though she was a girl, and exposed small and large intestines.
In 2011, a baby was born with an exposed heart in Port Elizabeth, and another reported case was a baby born with an exposed brain in Middelburg.
At the time, the Eastern Cape health department called for more research into why so many babies were born with deformities.
Deformities seen in the past included conjoined twins, babies with their heart or brain exposed, and those with two penises or four legs.
Kupelo said most babies with deformities died soon after birth, or during procedures to try to rectify the deformities. - Sapa