An Egyptian mother gave birth to a baby boy with one eye in the middle of his forehead and no nose. Doctors say it is a rare birth defect called “cyclopia.” She gave birth at El Senteballawein. The family, which is receiving counseling, released copies of the newborn’s photo.

The condition takes its name from creatures in Greek mythology called cyclops who have one eye on the forehead. The character was also found in Roman mythology and eventually adopted by Marvel Comics for a fictional superhero that first appeared in the X-Men #1 in 1963. The cyclops belong to a mythological race of lawless giant shepherds in Sicily.

Egyptian doctors believe the infant’s condition comes from the combination of medicines taken by the mother when she was pregnant or she was exposed to radiation, reports slaati.com, a news Web site in Saudi Arabia. According to Dr Ahmen Badruddin, who oversees the baby’s condition, the newborn has hair on his head, large ears and other deformities. He expects the deformed baby to survive for only a few days because of lack of an organ for breathing.

The New York Post reports that the condition is more common in animals when the eye sockets fail to form correctly in the womb. It happens four in every 1,000 births, but most of the time, the pregnancy does not continue to full term.

According to babymed, in some cases, the condition is linked with a rare chromosomal condition, Patau Syndrome, found in persons with three instead of the normal two #13 chromosomes (Trisomy 13). It is often found in feline kittens, but a human infant’s body with such a condition is found in a museum in Amsterdam.

The website said that among the known causes of cyclopia are ingestion of the toxic weed Corn Lily, also known as Vetch Weed, and alcoholism and diabetes because of the fast buildup of toxins in the bodies of alcoholic and diabetic women, causing the brain to develop as one hemisphere rather than two hemispheres.

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