Passing away shortly after he was born, a rare genetic defect saw an Egyptian baby emerge from his mother's womb with just one eye, no nose and no anus.

Staff Writer

Oct 07, 2015

A tragic and bizarre Greek mythological birth in Egypt is making headlines around the world as a baby emerged from his mother's womb as a cyclops, dying shortly after.

Suffering from an extremely rare condition that doctors call cyclopia, derived from the term for one-eyed monsters in Greek mythology, the newborn emerged missing a nose and had only one eye in the middle of his forehead among other defects.

The birth occurred in a private hospital in the north-eastern town of El Senbellawein in El Dakahlia. Overseeing the delivery was Dr Ahmed Badruddin, who predicted that the baby will only be able to survive a few days, and suspects that perhaps the deformities are a result of radiation exposure or a combination of medicines taken by the mother during pregnancy.

Currently being counselled for the traumatic birth, the family posted a heart breaking picture which may be hard for some to see.

According to the Dailymail.co.uk, this disorder can occur as often as four times in a 1000 births, but most cases never reach full term, making this a rare exception. This disorder is more common among animals, however many believe it dates back to ancient times as it is recorded in Greek mythology that a race of menacing giants living in Sicily were called Cyclops for having one large eye in the middle of their forehead.