The world's youngest mother - a medical mystery for nearly 80 years
In 1939, a 5-year-old girl named Lina Medina gave birth to a healthy baby boy that shocked the world.
Lina Medina was born in a remote village in Peru. According toAllthatinterestingWhen Lina was 5 years old, her parents noticed that her belly was unusually large. Fearing that it might be a tumor, the family took their daughter to the doctor. The doctors' diagnosis left everyone stunned.
Dr. Gerardo Lozada, who examined the girl, diagnosed Lina as being seven months pregnant. However, he was also confused by his results and sent her to see other specialists. Incredibly, they all came to the same conclusion: Lina was pregnant. What was recorded was the girl's medical records, with a photo of Lina when she was pregnant and a clear X-ray of a developing fetus inside her body.
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| Lina Medina got pregnant at the age of 5. Photo:Allthatinteresting |
Lina's father was arrested on suspicion of incest and child abuse. He was later released due to lack of evidence. One of Lina's siblings was also placed under surveillance but there was no indication that he was the father.
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| World's youngest mother at 80 years old is a medical mystery |
Lina Medina gave birth to a baby boy weighing 2.7 kg and named Gerardo Medina. The boy was raised as Lina's younger brother and always thought she was his older sister. It was not until he was 10 years old that Gerardo learned that Lina was his mother.
Gerardo Medina grew up healthy and normal. At the age of 33, Lina married Raul Jurado. In 1979, Gerardo died of bone marrow disease at the age of 40, while Lina continued to live with her husband in a poor district in Peru. She always refused to share information about her life, deciding to keep the secret about her son's father to herself until the end of her life.
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| Image:Allthatinteresting |
Since then, Lina Medina has been considered the youngest mother in the history of medicine. Several organizations and research facilities have tried to approach Lina and her son to learn about the case, but her parents have refused. To date, only a few photos believed to have been taken of Medina while she was pregnant have been published outside of medical literature.
In an article about the incident published in October 1955, author Luis Leon said that many villages in Peru regularly held religious festivals. Participants included group sex and rape.
