Nine-month-old Milagros Cerron is carried by a doctor at the hospital in Lima, on February 1, 2005.

A Peruvian baby dubbed the "Little Mermaid" because she was born with a rare condition in which her legs are fused, will have surgery this month to try to separate them, doctors said.

Nine-month-old Milagros Cerron -- her name means miracles in Spanish -- is one of only a handful of the estimated 1-in-60,000 to 100,000 people born with sirenomelia, or mermaid syndrome, to have lived more than a few hours, experts say.

For Luis Rubio, the doctor leading the Peruvian team that will cut her legs apart in Lima on Feb. 24, the past year has been a crash course in tackling a condition he had read about in textbooks but never expected to have to treat.

Doctors believe there may only be one other surviving "mermaid" -- 16-year-old American Tiffany Yorks, whose legs were separated when she was a few months old.

Experts say sirenomelia is about as rare as conjoined twins but is nearly always fatal because most sufferers lack kidneys or have other complications.

From the waist up, Milagros smiles and babbles like any healthy infant. Below the waist, her stomach merges seamlessly into her legs, which are joined all the way to her heels.

With her tiny feet splayed in a 'V', the impression of a mermaid's forked tail is complete.

Milagros' father, Ricardo Cerron, 24, appealed for aid when she was born on April 27, 2004, in the Andean town of Huancayo, around 200 miles east of Lima.

"I thought it was something horrifying" he said, recalling his reaction on seeing his daughter. "I was in total despair."

Milagros, who weighs 17 lbs (7.5 kg) and is 24 inches (60 cm) long, has a rudimentary anus, urethra and genitalia all located together.

Doctors will insert three silicone bags filled with saline solution between her legs on Feb. 9 and gradually add liquid to stretch the skin to cover exposed wounds once they are cut apart, centimeter by centimeter.

"I have faith it will all go well," said Milagros' mother, Sara Arauco, 19.

But Mutaz Habal, the doctor who began treating Tiffany Yorks when she was one hour old and helped pioneer the separation technique, said it was hugely risky.  

(Reuters)