Doctors in Pisco, Peru couldn’t believe their eyes when they first saw Lina Medina. They thought that it was a tumor growing up in her stomach. But they had to deal with one of the strangest cases in the history of medicine…
Doctors in Pisco, Peru couldn’t believe their eyes when they first saw Lina Medina. They thought that it was a tumor growing up in her stomach. But they had to deal with one of the strangest cases in the history of medicine…
She was having periods since the age of three - but further investigation discovered that she suffered from a condition called “precocious puberty,” and her menstruation had in fact begun when she was eight months old.
Precocious puberty is when the onset of puberty occurs before the age of eight in girls and nine in boys. Its cause is unknown but, like later age puberty it results in enlarged breasts, pubic or underarm hair development and rapid height growth. For Lina's case, it also means the child can give birth.
The child, weighing 6 pounds, was well-formed, in good health and was named Gerardo. Linda left the clinic with her child after a few days.
In 1979, her son died from bone marrow disease at the age of 40. Lina, who has never spoken about the pregnancy, is still alive aged 85. She married in the 1970s and gave birth to a second son.
It has never been revealed who the father was, or the circumstances surrounding the impregnation.
But it is still unknown how 5-year-old Lina got pregnant...