Request for Question Clarification by
rainbow-ga
on
12 Nov 2005 08:03 PST
Hi roberts41181,
Please let me know if this answers your question?
"Not only is it possible for fraternal twins to have different
fathers, it has actually happened. There's even a medical term for it:
superfecundation. The classic case, which is discussed in Williams
Obstetrics (1980), was recorded in 1810 by John Archer, the first
doctor to receive a medical degree in the United States. According to
Archer, a white woman who had sex with a black man and a white man
within a short time subsequently gave birth to twins--one white, one
mulatto. Other cases have been reported since.
Superfecundation is possible because fraternal twins result from two
separate eggs fertilized independently. Some think it happens fairly
often, but until recently it was difficult to prove, due to the
crudeness of the traditional testing method, which involved comparing
blood types. In 1978, however, Dr. Paul Terasaki of the UCLA School of
Medicine reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that he and
his colleagues had conclusively established a case of superfecundation
using a sophisticated procedure called tissue or HLA (human leukocyte
antigen) testing. This technique can also be applied to more
conventional cases."
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_213.html
Looking forward to your clarification.
Best regards,
Rainbow
