She gives birth to twins… from different fathers

The story seems straight out of a telenovelasand yet it is confirmed by science and reported in The Daily mail. In Brazil, a 19-year-old woman reportedly gave birth to twins from different fathers. The Brazilian would have noticed the unusual situation 8 months after the birth of the children, when she wanted to pass a paternity test to a partner.

Two paternity tests for a big revelation

Several months after the birth of her children, the young woman, who was dating several men during the period of conception, felt the need to know if the man she considered to be the father was the right one. After a DNA sample and two paternity tests carried out (one for each child) the results came back positive… For only one of the children. The mother then remembered that she had had sex with two partners on the same day: after verification, this second person turned out to be the father of the second twin. A big surprise for everyone, as for the family doctor who knew about the phenomenon, but had seen nothing like it in his career.

A rare phenomenon, but possible

The case, rare in humans (much less in animals), has a scientific name: heteroparental superfertilization. “It may be rare, but from a physiological point of view it is entirely possible” explains Dr. Olivier Dupuis, obstetrician and associate professor of Obstetrics Gynecology. “It happens when a mother releases two eggs which are then fertilized by two sperm from different men. But in fact, they are dizygotic twins, as there are often, with 2 spermatozoa, with 2 oocytes, which give 2 genetically different embryos” he completes. The event still requires a particular condition: two sexual relations close in time, with two different partners, and at the time, either just before or just after, ovulation. “But there again, nothing is impossible, when we know that the lifespan of spermatozoa in the female body is 5 days” remind the doctor.

Is such a pregnancy therefore more complicated or dangerous for the mother or the development of the babies? “No, having multiple fathers has no impact on the pregnancy, even if a twin pregnancy is still perceived as a high-risk pregnancy” continues the obstetrician. “On the other hand, the complication to be expected is more of a psychological nature. The situation induces, I think, a psychological accompaniment of the mother and the children, the opening of a space of dialogue and an appropriate follow-up to help this family in a society which is not always very open-minded. ” he concludes.

For the patient’s doctor, it would only be the 20th case mentioned in the medical literature. A study on the subject evaluates that hetero-parental superfertilization can affect up to one birth of twins out of 13,000… Without the families necessarily noticing it.