Doctors Remove Rare Human ‘Tail’ From Newborn Brazilian Baby

Perplexed surgeons successfully removed a real human tail from a newborn baby boy at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Fortaleza, Brazil.

According to an online tabloid, doctors had a 6-inch posterior protuberance with a 1.5-inch-wide ball at the tip by the time the infant was born prematurely at 35 weeks.

The baby's tail had no cartilage or bone. Doctors explained that they handled a rare example of an actual human tail. However, an initial examination revealed that the newborn was jaundiced and had a human tail with a ball at the end.

Doctors transferred the infant to the operating room. According to News18, surgeons successfully removed the tail and mass after it did not affect the child's nervous system. Experts undertook an ultrasound check to rule out any neurological involvement because the nervous system and skin have a shared embryonic genesis.

According to a case study published in the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, his mother was previously healthy and did not consume alcohol or use illegal drugs.

However, during her pregnancy, the mother smoked ten cigarettes per day and had one urinary tract infection that doctors treated with antibiotics during the first trimester.

This isn't the first time someone had a one-of-a-kind limb. According to the New York Post, a 5-inch malignant "dragon horn" erupted out of a UK man's back in 2019, although he had no history of skin cancer.

Fox News said experts only about 40 cases of actual human tails. Human tails are classified as true or pseudo-tails in the article.

A real human tail consists of fatty and connective tissue, blood vessels, muscle and nerve fibers. According to the article, most people begin to grow a tail during the fourth week of pregnancy. But it usually fades by the eighth week, eventually converting into the tailbone, also known as the coccyx.

On the other hand, adipose or cartilaginous tissue with the presence of bone elements make up Pseudo-tails. Reports said some babies get a pseudo-tail when parents believe their newborn has a real tail. This phenomenon is frequently a symptom of a tailbone deformity or spina bifida.