This mother from Mineiros, in the West of Brazil, got pregnant with two different men! An extremely rare phenomenon, to be sure, but not impossible. Here is the story of this 19-year-old Brazilian, who preferred to remain anonymous.
One-of-a-kind design
The story of this young Brazilian woman has caused a lot of ink to flow, and for good reason: she gave birth to two twins who do not have the same father! The young woman did not initially suspect anything. As her two boys’ first birthdays approached, she wanted to confirm the identity of their father. She therefore contacted him to do a paternity test, and confirm his doubts. Except that to his surprise, only one boy tested positive. Which means that the twins did not share the same father! It was then that the mother remembered having had sex with two different men on the same day. So she called the second man to do the test too. And there she got the confirmation that her children had two different fathers. The young woman admitted to being surprised by the results, because her boys were very similar. Her pregnancy had gone well, and her children were born without problems.
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The Brazilian mother’s fraternal twins. Source: spm
A rare phenomenon, but not impossible
This rare, but not impossible design is called heteroparental superfertilization. According to Túlio Franco, the doctor who followed this mother’s pregnancy, this phenomenon occurs when two eggs from a mother are fertilized, but by different men. As a result, babies grow in different placentas, although they share genetic material from the mom. Still according to this doctor, this superfertilization is the 20th case recorded in the world of heteroparental superfertilization, as relayed by the French newspaper, the New Republic. Doctor Túlio also shared his joy at having had the chance to witness such a case, especially since this phenomenon only happens “once in a million “. This childbirth in any case inspired this doctor, and his students, who decided to study this case more in depth, to publish a scientific article on this phenomenon.
Focus on heteroparental superfertilization
Twin babies. Source: spm
When we talk regarding twins, we distinguish two types.
Identical twins: resulting from the separation in two, of an initial cell-egg. Two identical embryos are thus obtained.
Fraternal twins: obtained following the fertilization of two spermatozoa and two distinct ovules.
That said, when twins are born to two different fathers, then they are fraternal twinssince two different sperm have fertilized two different eggs.
According to the franceinfo newspaper, if superfertilization is possible, it is also because of the fact that the woman is able to ovulate several times, during the same ovarian cycle. This is how heteroparental superfertilization occurs.
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As soon as ovulation occurs, the egg can survive for approximately 12 to 48 hours. As for sperm, their lifespan can be up to 5 days. That said, if a sexual relationship took place 5 days before, this means that a spermatozoon will be able to fertilize a new egg. The second egg can be fertilized 48 hours later, by another spermfrom another report.
The prevalence of heteroparental superfertilization is estimated at 1 in 13,000 cases. Indeed, according to a study published in the journal Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma), in 1992, out of 39,000 cases of paternity tests carried out on twins, only 3 cases of heteroparental superfertilization were found.
If only a few cases of heteroparental superfertilization have been publicized and recorded, this does not mean that these are unique cases. It is likely that other twins were born to different fathers, without the parents knowing. Indeed, cases of heteroparental superfertilization can only be identified following a paternity test.
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