Date:10/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/10/stories/2008111054830500.htm

Kerala

Malappuram village under national genetic scanner

Staff Reporter

Over 100 pairs of twins in Kodinhi village
Plea to conduct a scientific investigation

MALAPPURAM: A remote village in Malappuram district has caught national attention by having an exceptional concentration of twins.

Kodinhi village in Nannambra panchayat has more than 100 pairs of twins, many of them identical and same sex. A school in the village has about two dozen pairs of twins.

Even as the village and health authorities here stood agape at the puzzling phenomenon, a national team of geneticists arrived at Kodinhi on Sunday as part of a study into the concentration of twins. The team comprising G.R. Chandak from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, and Kaumudi Godbole, member of the Centre for Human Growth and Development, Pune, and consultant genetic paediatrician at Deenanath Mangeshkar and King Edward Memorial Hospitals, Pune, met about a dozen pairs of twins and examined their food habits and a host of other factors, including medicare, heredity, climate and parents.

The scientific team said a detailed survey would have to be done as part of the study. None has so far investigated the reasons for the high concentration of twins in a tiny village with a population of less than 14,000. Dr. Chandak and Dr. Godbole are expected to return with a comprehensive questionnaire to measure the sociological aspects behind the phenomenon.

Senior citizens of the village pointed out that increasing multiple pregnancies were a recent phenomenon of Kodinhi. Most pairs of twins in the village are below 15 years of age. It has remained a mystery for everyone, including the doctors of Tirurangadi Taluk Hospital, that the number of twins increased steadily over the last decade.

There were demands from some sections of people to conduct a scientific investigation. But neither the civic nor the health authorities took the demands seriously.

Many people who visited the village had funny stories to recount about confronting twins. It has been tough for even teachers to identify the students.