Multiple births are rare in humans with twins as being the most common form of this
event. Multiple births can arise in many different combinations of ways but the
probability of giving birth to more than one child remains fairly constant when compared
to the entire human race. The chances of multiple births can also vary from race and
genetic background. Scientist and researchers do not know what the exact cause of these
variations is but many of them feel that it is caused by hormone differences between
different racial groups and/or the difference in social class.
The prenatal and infant mortality is much higher in multiple pregnancies than in
pregnancies that only involves one child. The danger of premature birth also increased
with the higher number of offspring that are involved. In many multiple births, not all
of
the children survived to childhood or were born dead. Through the advances in
technology, the survival rate of infants born in a multiple pregnancy has increased.
The
first quintuplets, five babies born in a single pregnancy, to survive in medical history
were the Dionne quintuplets.
The use of drugs that treat female sterility, or fertility drugs, may increase the
chances of giving birth to multiple children. These drugs cause the ovaries to release
an
egg once a month but in some cases they release more than one egg, sometimes releasing
several at a time, increasing the chances of a multiple birth. The drug clomiphene
citrate
is one of the most widely taken fertility drug and has resulted in the birth of twins
about
once in every twelve births, much greater than the chances of the birth of natural
twins.
Twins are the most common form of a multiple pregnancy. About one in
eighty-seven births result in the birth of twins. Twins can be fraternal, also known as
dizygotic twins, or identical, also called monozygotic twins, with the birth of
identical
twins being the rarest, occurring about four times in every thousand births, about
one-forth as often as the birth of fraternal twins. This ratio of the birth of twins to
the
total number of births remains fairly constant but the birth of fraternal twins can
alter
greatly. Fraternal twins are most common among black African followed by people of
European origin. Asian races originating from the orient are the least likely to give
birth
to fraternal twins.
The birth of twins can occur in two different ways, the fertilization of a single egg
or the fertilization of two eggs. In the case of dizygotic twins, the woman's ovaries
release two eggs about the same time instead of one, with each being fertilized by the
male's sperm, fraternal twins begin to develop. The two zygotes develop differently,
each
having a different genetic coding. They can be both boys, both girls, or a single boy
and
a single girl. Because each embryo develops on its own from different genetic
characteristics, dizygotic twins resemble family characteristics as do brother and
sister.
The birth of monozygotic twins takes place much differently than do the births of
fraternal twins. Identical twins originate from a single egg, fertilized similarly to
that of
a single pregnancy. A change transpires early in the pregnancy that causes the
development of identical twins. The change from a single birth to the birth of
monozygotic twins occurs when the zygote ruptures into two separate structures. These
two parts begin to develop into individual fetuses, sharing a similar genetic code and
developing in a similar manner. Identical twins are of the same sex, resemble each
other
very closely, and have similar fingerprints and blood types.
Scientists also believe that Siamese twins, also known as conjoined twins,
develop in a similar fashion as do monozygotic twins. Siamese twins are identical twins
with the difference that the zygote did not divide completely during their development.
Such twins are usually joined at the hip, chest, abdomen, buttocks, or head. With
current
monitoring equipment, conjoined twins can be detected maturing in the mother and
during birth a Cesarean section is sometimes needed to deliver the children safely.
Separation of the twins sometimes leads to the death of one or both of the twins. This
births are a rare event, occurring only about once in every fifty-thousand births.
Other forms of multiple births such as triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets, occur
very similarly to the birth of twins. Births of triplets are rarer than the birth of
twins,
occurring approximately once in every seven-thousand nine-hundred births. The birth of
triplets can occur in a combination of ways. If the zygote divides into three separate
structures in the early stages of development, identical twins will be born. If a two
cells
are fertilized and one divides into two structures as in monozygotic twins, the birth of
a
pair of identical twins will be born along with a single infant. If the ovaries release
three
eggs, which are then fertilized, then the birth of fraternal triplets will occur.
The same level of combinations can be observed in the development of
quadruplets, quintuplets, and the very rare occasion of a pregnancy of six children.
The
birth of quadruplets only takes place once in every seven-hundred and five thousand
births and quintuplets are born once in every eight million births. The birth of six
infants is so
rare that accurate statistics cannot be made while compared to the total amount of
births
around the world. In all of these forms of multiple pregnancies, the process is very
similar. If the woman's ovaries release four or five eggs then the birth of quadruplets
or
quintuplets will arise. If the cell divides into four of five structures will then cause
the
pregnancy of identical quadruplets or quintuplets. These and numerous other
combinations can occur as the number of infants involved increases.
Multiple pregnancies are a rare occasion, one of the factors for the incomplete
statistics of the birth of a six child pregnancy. The number of infants born in
multiple
births, as well as larger births consisting of six or more children, are also increasing
due
to the use of fertility drugs. This widespread use is forcing researchers not to accept
any
multiple births that were endorsed by drugs as part of the general statistics. Some
aspects
of multiple births are still not clear to scientist. The difference between the
probabilities
of multiple pregnancies of women of different races is just one of these problems. More
about multiple births has been learned over the ages but more is still to be learned and
tested by
scientists.
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