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A baby was born with the heart outside the chest in Port Elizabeth on Monday morning, the Eastern Cape health department said.
"The 17-year-old mother delivered the baby at home and was then rushed to Dora Nzinga hospital," spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said.
The baby was currently in intensive care. Doctors were going to attempt to operate on Tuesday morning.
One in a million
Kupelo did not know the child's sex.
In a similar case last year, Ashleigh Louw was born on January 9, 2010 with her heart outside her chest, covered only by a thin layer of skin. Doctors operated on her later that month.
She died on March 5 at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg. The condition, known as Pentallogy of Cantrell, occurs in one in a million babies.
(Sapa, October 2011)
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