A woman has been arrested after police found a severely malnourished 11-year-old girl weighing just over three stone and still wearing a nappy.

The girl, who was home-schooled at Georgetown, Ohio, US, was taking a test online when she complained to the teacher that she was hungry.

She said she was only allowed to eat a small plate of rice each day and her weight was about 30lbs under the average weight of a girl her age, reported Fox News .

Authorities believed she had been isolated at home and mistreated for at least the past three years.

The girl had been living with her legal custodian Margaret Breeze, 47, since she was six years old, but it was not known whether they were related.

Officials from the Brown County Sheriff's Office said Breeze made the girl sleep on a urine-stained mattress and stay inside a locked trailer monitored by a security camera.

Prosecutor Zac Corbin said: "It's just a wonder she got out of there when she did."

He added that Breeze last took the girl to a doctor when she was eight and the medical record showed she weighed 51lbs, meaning she had lost 4lbs in the past three years.

The incident came into light when the teacher noticed the girl was having trouble paying attention and asked her what's wrong during an online test in September, and later reported the matter to the police, said detective Quinn Carlson.

Breeze was arrested in early November and charged for child endangering, kidnapping and felonious assault.

She pleaded not guilty and remained in the county jail.

Breeze's husband, Charles Breeze, was also taken into custody and faced the same charges, the Brown County Sheriff's Office confirmed.

The girl spent two weeks in the hospital after the rescue and was diagnosed with Kwashiorkor, a disorder brought on by severe malnutrition.

Mr Corbin said the disorder is usually only seen in people from undeveloped areas of the world experiencing famine.

Authorities have placed the girl in a loving home where she has gained about 15 pounds now, he added.

"The little girl will be scarred from this, but hopefully there's a happy ending where she ca put this nightmare behind her and move forward in a positive way like a normal 11-year-old child would," he said.

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