You may just be your twin. How is that possible? Well, there is something known as chimerism. This is a rare case when two fertilized embryos don’t identify each other as siblings and fuse to form one foetus. In other words when one twin fuses into the other forming one baby with two kinds of genetic material. This is also known as the Vanishing Twin Syndrome.
It is very likely that people don’t realise their dual DNA nature and fail to recognise themselves as chimeras. There are about 100 cases of chimerism so far however with the advancements in genetic testing chimerism may become more and more common. Chimerism is usually discovered by chance unless the mixing of genetic material causes unusual health problems like mixed blood or ambiguous genitalia may occur if the twins were of opposite sexes. Chimeras are born with different eye colours or unusual skin markings which many chimeras falsely understand as a birthmark, failing to realise it is actually their twins genetic makeup mixed with their own body.
In 1953, in north England “ Mrs McK” was identified as the first human chimera when she donated blood and screening technicians found two blood types. Further investigation uncovered the truth that she had a brother who had died and she herself was a twin. There are many cases about chimeras including one about a father who found out he couldn’t be related to his son after taking a DNA test. He found out that there was only a 10% match between his DNA and the DNA of his son. It was first presumed that his fertility clinic used the wrong sperm on his wife but after the clinic called and confirmed that there was no error on their part it was discovered by Barry Starr of Stanford University’s Department of Genetics that the man could be a chimera since there was a 25% relation between the father and son, and this was usually the case when the child is a niece or nephew. Hence proving that the man was a chimera and carried the genetics of his twin brother inside of him. The genetics of his dead twin were in his sperms and passed on to his son.
The most famous yet recent case of chimerism is the case of Taylor Muhl a singer. She has two immune systems from her absorbed twin. Her immune system constantly tries to get rid of the other one which leads to autoimmune flare-ups causing her to be allergic to many things. She kept getting sick during her early teens which lead to her to find out she is a chimera. When Taylor Muhl was young she used to constantly ask her mother if she had a twin sister showing that there was some sort of intuition that she was different. It is normal for little girls to ask such questions but Taylor herself has said: “ mine was like an obsession”.
Chimerism is becoming more and more known every day and I’m sure with technological advancements more and more chimeras will be discovered. You too could be a chimera with no Health issues just carrying your sibling in your body. They may have never set foot on this planet but they will live inside of you forever.
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Very interesting. Would love to read more such articles. Looking forward to the next one
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