2005

This is a look at the 52 sets of births and twin separations we saw reported on the Web during 2005 (34 sets of girls, 12 sets of boys, 5 sets of unknown gender). Cases are shown in reverse chronological order:

Omphalopagus twin girls are born at Pariyaram Medical College Hospital in Kerala, India, on December 14 to Sali Vincent of Kottiyur Chunkakunnu. The sisters, who share a bladder and umbilical cord, both die of jaundice on January 11, 2006.

Abdullah and Abdul Rahman are born in Saudi Arabia on December 13. The twin brothers were to be separated in surgery at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Riyadh on July 2, 2007. The twins share a liver, large bowel, urinary and genital system and one pelvis.

Also in November, sisters Hafsah and Elham Tayyebi are born in Morocco. The ischiopagus tetrapus twins undergo successful separation at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh on March 5, 2006.

Dicephalus dibrachius dipus twins are born to a 20-year-old mother at the Hôpital de la Liberté in N'Djamena, Chad in November.

Abby and Belle Carlsen are born in Minnesota in November. The thoracopagus conjoined twins are successfully separated at the Childrens Hospitals and Clinics in Minneapolis in May, 2006. A report from their hometown of Fargo, ND a year after their separation indicates the girls are doing well.

On October 19, Egyptian pygopagus twin sisters Hana'a and Ala'a are surgically separated. They had been born earlier this year.

Thoracopagus twin girls, Maria and Guadalupe Quinatoa, are born with a shared heart in Ecuador on Oct. 17. Both girls die on October 21.

Thoracopagus twins girls with one heart are born in Israel on September 27 and survive just three days.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin girls, Safa and Marwa, are born in Ribera, Agrigento, Italy to a Moroccan couple, Souad Zerouali, 34, and Abdelilah Habachi, 42, on September 20. The sisters have separate hearts but share a liver and intestine and require ventilators to breathe. The girls pass away from heart complications on September 22.

Thoracopagus twin girls, nicknamed Listiyani I and Listiyani II, are born to Ni Wayan Listiyani, 20, and I Wayan Yasa Artana, 22, of Tianyar Village, Bali, Indonesia on September 19. The sisters share a single deformed heart and survive for just ten days.

Ana and Maria Platon are born in Romania on September 11. The ischiopagus tetrapus twins are separated on September 23, but Ana dies.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born in Andulo, Bié Province, Angola on August 30. They are separated in October by a team of Angolan and Spanish doctors at Luanda Paediatric Hospital in what is believed to be the first such operation performed in Angola. Unfortunately, one twin succumbs to congenital defects after the surgery.

Thoracopagus twin girls Yuriela and Fiorella Rocha Arias are born in Costa Rica on Aug. 25. The girls are scheduled to be separated in late 2007 surgery to be performed in Palo Alto, California.

Halfway across the world on August 24, omphalopagus twin girls are born in Zhejiang Province, China. Chen Hu Zingxuan and Chen Hu Jingni are separated at Fudan University in Shanghai on July 7, 2006. Sadly, Jingxuan dies on January 10, 2007.

A fifth set of conjoined twins are born in Nigeria on August 24 to the Komolafe family (unknown genders for twins). Although the twins are separated at birth, both do die.

A Mexican family travels to the United States for the birth of conjoined twin girls, Regina and Renata Salinas-Fierros on August 2. The ischiopagus tetrapus twins are successfully separated in Los Angeles on June 15, 2006.

Dicephalus dibrachius twins of unknown gender are born on August 1 in Pakistan.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin boys sharing a heart are born in Kenya on July 31 to 24-year-oldNaomi Mumbua. One twin has severe birth defects and has no limbs of his own. The deformed twin dies in surgery but the healthy brother survives and is named Peter after his grandfather.

Rosario Guadalupe and Agustina Beatriz Sánchez Colque are born in Argentina on July 26. The pygopagus twin sisters undergo separation on September 20.

Omphalopagus twin girls with a shared bowel but separate livers are born to a Nigerian family in Athens, Greece on July 20. They undergo separation at Aglaia Kyriakou Childrens' Hospital on August 20 but both die in surgery.

On July 8, xiphopagus twin boys are born to a German family and undergo separation at birth because one boy is stillborn. The other, Jamie, survives.

Xipho-omphalopagus twin girls, Salwa and Salma Umiyati, are born to Nurdin and Tutik Umiyati in Tulungagung, East Java, Indonesia on July 1. The twins are successfully separated on Oct. 1.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born in Dominica on June 30 to the Fontaine family. Both girls die within a week on July 2-3.

Ischiopagus dipus twin boys, Ashton and Alexander Willemse, are born in South Africa on June 29. Ashton is separated from his twin brother after Alexander's death.

Luana and Lorena Cajado Almeida, thoracopagus twin girls, are born in Brazil on June 25. Both girls die a week later on June 23.

In a busy year for conjoined twin births in Nigeria, pygopagus twins, Rimo and Rilama Maijim, are born June 3. After Rimo's death on Feb. 17, 2006, the girls are separated and Rilama passes away the next day.

Veronika and Christina Kaigorodtsevs are born in Siberia in June of 2005. Ischiopagus tetrapus twins, they are separated at the age of one year. Veronika dies in October of 2006.

Also in June of 2005, pygopagus twin girls are born in Malaysia. They are successfully separated December 1 at Kuala Lumpur Hospital's Paediatric Institute in a 17-hour operation.

A second set of thoracopagus twin girls, Angel Mae and Angela Garganta, are born in the Phillipines on April 30. The twins both pass away a month later on May 24.

The second set of dicephalus twins with one heart are born in Saudi Arabia this year on April 22. These twins, also boys, both pass away on May 3.

Thoracopagus twin girls, Subodhi and Samadhi Sanjeewa, are born in Sri Lanka on Apr. 21. The two girls share a heart and both pass away on May 20.

Also on April 21, xiphopagus twin girls are born in China. They are successfully separated on May 10.

Omphalopagus twin girls, Ala'a and Wala'a, are born in Egypt on April 19 and successfully separated at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh in June.

Paula Lourdes and Maria Antonia Velásquez Romero. are born in Argentina on March 29 The ischiopagus twins are successfully separated on Nov. 7.

Twins known as Nurlela I and Nurlela II, but later renamed Mia and Nia Ayu Lestari, are born to an Indonesian couple, Nurlela and Mulyadi, on March 22. The sisters are thoracopagus twins, born sharing a pericardium, or the membrane that surrounds the heart. They are separated at Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta on June 11 in a six-hour operation. Both twins have congenital heart defects and Nia passes away on June 17, with Mia following on June 28.

Thoraco-omphalopagus twin girls, Wu Xinchen and Wu Xinyue, are born in China on March 17. They are successfully separated in China on June 1.

Isis Milagro and Isis Esperanza Riera, omphalopagus twin girls, are born in Honduras on March 8. The girls share a liver and both tragically pass away on April 9.

Dicephalus tetrabrachius twin girls are born by cesarean section on March 1 to a Nigerian woman, Angella Akagha, in Owerri, Imo State. Sadly, both the twins and Ms. Akagha succumb to complications.

Another set of twin boys are born in Nigeria in March to the Haladu family. The twins are separated in March but sadly pass away on April 18, 2006.

On March 23, Milagros María Alicia and Alicia María Milagros Estigarribia Acuña are born in Paraguay and survive just three days.

Yet another set of twin (unknown gender) are stillborn in Nigeria on March 2 to the Tukur family.

Thoracopagus twin boys who share a heart are born in Brazil on Feb. 23 to the Araujo de Sousa family. The twins die during separation surgery on Feb. 28.

Another pair of thoracopagus twin boys are born in Brazil on February 26 to the da Silva family. These two share a heart and die before they can be separated.

Also on February 26, omphalopagus twin boys, along with a non-conjoined triplet, are born in Egypt. The twins survive just a few hours.

Conjoined twins Amir Mukti Abadi and Amir Mahmud are born in Jombang, East Java, Indonesia on February 25, joined at the chest and with multiple birth defects. Nicknamed "Abad", Amir Mukti Abadi has no liver of his own, while Amir Mahmud, known as "Little Abad" is parasitic, with no facial features, heart or brain of his own. The twins are divided in a 2-hour operation, led by Dr. Teguh Sylviantoro, at the Integrated Surgery Center of Dr. Soetomo General Hospital in Surabaya, on June 3, 2005. Amir Mahmud passes away and is buried in the twins' hometown.

Rare, non-viable cephalopagus twins (joined at the head, neck, and chest with fused brains and hearts) are born to Evelyn Ataca, 24, at Zamboanga City Medical Center in the Philippines on February 22. They survive only an hour.

Twin girls are born in Kenya to a 17-year-old mom on Feb. 11. The thoraco-omphalopagus twins have the surname Odhiambo Atieno.

Omphalopagus twin boys Islam and Hossam are born in Algeria on February 8 and survive for only twelve days.

Twins Phambom and Shefbou are born to Emerencia Nyumeli, 39, and her husband James Akumbu in Cameroon on February 5. The sisters are ischio-omphalopagus tripus twins and are separated at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the directive of King Abdullah, on April 21, 2007. The marathon surgery took place in 10 phases and included a 65-member surgical team. Both twins survive the difficult operation.

One of the world's top facilities handling conjoined twins, the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London assists with the successful separation of conjoined twin girls Mille and Signe Stephenson/Christensen after their births in England on Jan. 25. The pygopagus twins are successfully separated on April 13.

Dicephalus twin boys with one heart, named Abdul Rahman and Abdul Rahim, are born in Saudi Arabia on January 19 and live for just nine days.

[Back to Chronological Timeline of Conjoined Twins Timeline]