updated 3:41 p.m. ET Oct. 24, 2009
PORTLAND, Maine - Shiloh Pepin, a girl who was born with fused legs, a rare condition often called "mermaid syndrome," (美人鱼综合症)and gained a wide following on the Internet and U.S. television, has died. She was 10.
Doctors had predicted she would at most only survive for days after her birth. The girl died at Maine Medical Center on Friday afternoon, hospital spokesman John Lamb said. She had been hospitalized in critical condition for nearly a week.
Being born with "mermaid syndrome," also known as sirenomelia(并肢畸形), meant that the Kennebunkport[肯纳邦克波特 (缅因州)] girl had only one partially working kidney(肾), no lower colon(结肠) or genital organs( 生殖器)and legs fused from the waist down.